


The Grass Is Always Greene

by PL600 (succulentrat)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2020-09-23 05:43:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 119,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20335024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/succulentrat/pseuds/PL600
Summary: Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!





	1. Chapter 1

My mother was always at her office and my father was always abroad on business meetings. I could never remember a time when we actually went out as a family or sat at the dinner table together. Neither of them were home long enough to actually clean the house, much less talk to me to realize that I needed help. I needed help with the housework, my schoolwork, and basically everything. I was healthy; except for the fact I had chronic insomnia and got incredibly bad headaches that often led to nosebleeds. Of course they wouldn't think to hire a maid, either. What were kids good for if they didn’t keep your house clean even if you were never there? To even talk to my mother I had to go all the way downtown to her work and try to catch her in her office.

“Is my mother in her office, Cindy?” I asked the receptionist.

“Yes, but she is about to head into a meeting -- I suggest you make it quick.”

I looked out the window next to me. There was an Android parking right next to my mother’s building, which didn’t allow Androids to step foot into it. It was my mother’s doing -- she owned the place. It was uncommon for downtown to not allow Androids inside its buildings. I was a young child when I learned of my parent’s hatred for Androids. We didn’t have any Androids at home, but I was hoping to change that.

“Good afternoon, Mother,” I announced, stepping into my mother’s office.

As always, she was sitting behind her desk with a blank expression on her face. Her fingers danced across the keyboard of her computer. I’d never seen my mother with her hair down; it was always up in a tight, tight bun. I didn’t even know what she really looked like, either -- her face was always covered in makeup.

“What is it, Mercy?” she muttered.

Clearly I was bothering her and I hadn’t even said what I wanted to say yet. I sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

“Well--” I began, but she held up a finger to tell me to stop talking.

I waited for what felt like forever, even though it was probably only a couple of minutes. While I waited, I twirled my black hair around my finger and looked around her office. In eighteen years, the place hadn’t changed one bit. I had seen photos from before I was born and it looked the absolute same, albeit with new plants and framed photos. The only personal touch was the photos, the plants, the desk plaque, and the calendar. None of the photos were of the family and there were certainly none of me. Even the desk plaque only said IRIS GREENE.

“Okay,” she said, looking at me. “What?”

“I need some help at home,” I told her. “My homework is piling up since I can’t catch up on my own from my headaches keeping me out of school, and the house is too big for just me to take care of it.”

“I’ll hire a maid, then.”

“No, Mother. I came to ask for an Android.”

She stared at me, a horrified expression on her face. No doubt she would call my father later in the day to tell him how much of a horrible person I was. I not only wanted someone to help me, but I also wanted a companion. With how much I was out of school, I never had the chance to make friends.

Iris and my father, Timothy, were so against Androids because they were replacing actual humans in work. The first time they realized what was happening, they had walked into a clothing store and found that all the human associates had been let go except for the owner of the store. Their level of dislike of Androids was ridiculous.

“Mercy Greene, have you lost your mind?!” she snapped.

“Mother, please,” I begged. “If you don’t want to purchase one, I’ll purchase one myself. I just need your permission to bring them into the house. They won’t get in your way whenever you and Father are home.”

She shook her head. “You’ve got to be  _ fucking  _ kidding me.”

Leaning forward, she rested her head in her hands. I thought she was going to begin crying -- she was that much of a drama queen and hated Androids enough. I was probably going to end up purchasing an Android even if she said “no”. My health and schoolwork was at stake.

“Mother, I need help cleaning the house; with my homework; and it’s lonely in that house by myself,” I stated.

She quickly looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. “I’ll get a maid, a tutor, and you can go pick out a dog or something.”

“Mother! Androids can be housekeepers, tutors,  _ and  _ companions. Like I said, I’ll purchase the Android myself. Just...please do this one thing for me.”

“For God’s sake,  _ fine. _ But you don’t let that thing anywhere near my bedroom or bathroom, understand me?”

I nodded and stood up.

Iris shrunk back into her seat and looked away. I went on my way to find the nearest Cyberlife store. I checked my phone for directions and found that there was one just a block away from the building. It was the middle of February; luckily it wasn’t too cold thanks to it still being midday. Just as I was about to turn the corner to get to the store, someone else shoved their Android forward, berating them, and they ended up pushing her into me.

“Jesus, now look what you did!” the person, a woman not too much older than Iris, snapped. “Clumsy thing!”

I’d managed to keep my balance by grasping onto the Android’s shoulders and holding her steady. Her LED was red, meaning she or her biocomponents -- the parts that made up her limbs -- were under stress.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

She blinked at me.

I scoffed and looked at the woman who had shoved her. “Listen, if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s  _ yours.  _ Take responsibility for your actions.”

I fixed the Android’s sweater, made sure her LED returned to blue, and continued on my way to the store. The inside of the store was busier than I expected, especially for the middle of the day. There were children with their parents and couples looking for help around the house. It was probably unwise of me to actually show up and have no knowledge whatsoever what to expect.

“Here to purchase your first Android?”

I turned to look at the man who had spoken to me. This guy was human, but there were Androids talking people up on other Androids. That was...grim, to say the least. I looked at his nametag. “Thompson”.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Is it obvious it’s my first?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Thompson replied. “But don’t worry; I’m sure we can find the right fit for you. What are you looking for?”

“I… Er…”

“You look like you’re still in high school; homework trouble?”

“Yes, and my parents are never home, so I need help cleaning the house. By the looks of things...uh...a lot of these people need nannies…”

“Well, just because you don’t have a little one doesn’t mean that you don’t need help. Let’s see… Follow me.”

He led me over to a black female Android. I wasn’t used to being told the specifications for things, and it was even weirder when I was looking at something that resembled a human. She was made to be a maid and that was it. Thompson figured if I had something to take care of all the housework I could relax and focus on my homework. My response was to shrug, and his response was to lead me over to a black male Android -- his function was just the same as the female’s.

“Um…” I looked around the store, spotting an Android that caught my eye.

One of the little kid’s standing with his parents wasn’t behaving well at all; they were looking at the Android that had caught my eye. The reason he had caught it was  _ because  _ of how the kid was behaving. The kid was destructive; he’d knocked a display down right when I had walked in and had tried to climb up one of the Android sales associates.

“The blond Android… What about him?” I wondered.

Thompson hesitated, looking at me. It was incredibly,  _ incredibly  _ rare for anyone to refer to an Android by its assigned gender. Most people referred to them as “it”, which I thought was just demeaning. It must have been easier to sell human-looking things by referring to them as objects rather than genders.

“Sir, I’m serious,” I sighed.

“Oh! Oh, right.” He shook his head, composing himself. “That’s the PL600. Its...ah... _ his... _ primary functions is to be a family’s domestic assistant; cook, clean; fixing up the house; helping with homework… He, ah...excuse me...is more than a housekeeper… Oh! And he was just released this month, so the PL600 model is brand new.”

“I’d like him, please.”

“Yes, of course. Can I just see some ID?”

I rummaged around in my backpack and pulled out my wallet. I flipped through the pockets until I found my ID. Once I handed it to Thompson, his face paled. He recognized my last name. Iris was well known in the business world already, but there was talks about her becoming the district representative -- meaning, the schools, businesses, police stations, and fire stations in our district would be under her full control. I disliked her hatred for Android’s, but being her daughter carried a good amount of weight.

“U-Um...come over here, Miss Greene,” Thompson stammered.

I’d never seen a full grown man be afraid of a high school girl before. It was uncomfortable. Either way, I followed him over to the Android I’d asked for. The Android who was helping the family with the destructive child’s LED was yellow -- he was processing something. From the looks on the parent’s faces, they were probably in the process of asking their Android associate to give them the Android I wanted. Thompson went over the specifications for the model again, probably trying to get me to reconsider because the family so clearly wanted him. But there was no way I could allow him to go with such a destructive child; his parents weren’t doing anything about the destruction, either.

“I’m sure he’s the one I want,” I assured Thompson.

“O-Okay…” he sighed. “Do you have a name picked out?”

I thought about it for a moment and then nodded. Thompson walked in front of the model with a small sigh.

“PL600, register your name,” he said.

I waited for him to move and then gently said, “Simon.”

***

There was no reason for Simon to wear the clothes he came in, so as soon as we left the Cyberlife store I took him over to one of the nice clothing places. This was a place where I ordinarily also got my own clothes, and so I knew that Androids were allowed inside. A lot of the sales associates were weird about them, but I paid them no mind. A lot of the people who were weird about Androids were people who had one waiting for them at home or in Android parking.

“Hm… Wait here, okay?” I requested, wandering over to the polo shirt display.

I already knew he looked good in white and so I grabbed a few white shirts for him. Looking back at him, he just waited for me patiently with his hands behind his back. His eyes were a pretty blue, so I ended up picking out some light purple shirts for him, too. I walked back over to him, where he held his arms out to take the pile I was carrying.

“No, no, it’s fine,” I assured him, setting the pile onto the couch behind him. “I’ll be right back.”

I found my way to where the slacks display was. Basic beige would look good with all the shirts I chose for him. After grabbing a few pairs, I went back over to him and he held his arms out again. Again, I assured him that it was fine and he returned his hands to behind his back. I put the slacks underneath my arms and picked up the pile of shirts. Looking around, I realized that the store didn’t have a winter section. Androids didn’t feel cold; but it could be emulated if their biocomponents got too cold. It wasn’t cold enough outside that that would happen, but I still wanted to buy him the appropriate outerwear for winter.

“Let’s go, Simon,” I said, walking in the direction of the cashiers.

He followed behind me and stopped beside me when I found an open till.

“Aren’t you supposed to be carrying this stuff?” the lady asked, glaring at him. “Useless--”

“I told him I had it,” I quickly snapped.

“I… Oh… Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

Her face turned red with embarrassment and she immediately began checking us out. This girl had known me for how many years and she thought I’d push something so simple on an Android? I rolled my eyes at the thought.

“Have a good afternoon,” she said, trying her best to sound cheery.

“You, too.”

Across the street was an outerwear store; but when we made it there, I walked through the sliding doors only to realize Simon wasn’t following. I walked back out; he was looking at a sign on the window. Androids weren’t allowed inside.

“I will wait here,” he said.

“Ah, no, we’ll find another shop,” I reassured him. “It’s okay.”

The shop next door also didn’t allow Androids; nor the next one; not even the next one. It must have taken twenty minutes to find another shop that allowed Androids inside -- only because there were other Androids inside behind the cashier’s desk. It didn’t take long to find Simon a good enough jacket -- the only problem was that I was too short. If I only had a few more inches to my height, then I would be fine.

“U-Um, Simon?” I mumbled.

“Yes, Mercy?” he replied.

“I’m too short. Can you grab that jacket, please?”

He walked up to the display and immediately took it down. Simon had a good seven inches on me. I was taller than the average woman in the United States, but of course I still lacked height to reach even the top shelf of a cupboard.

“Thank you,” I said, taking the jacket from him.

“You’re welcome.”

We walked over to one of the open tills, where the Android immediately scanned the jacket. He wanted to confirm payment, but before I could even pull out my card to pay for it, his LED was flashing yellow and so was Simon’s. What were they processing?

“Payment confirmed,” Simon suddenly announced.

I looked up at him and then back at the Android behind the counter. I forgot that a feature of Androids was being able to pay for things via LED as long as the receiver was  _ another  _ Android. Simon handed me the bag and we went on our way.

“My car is parked a block away,” I mentioned. “Would you--”

I was about to ask him if he wanted to wait for me to come pick him up or if he would prefer to walk with me. But that would only confuse his programming and wouldn’t give me any kind of answer. So in the end, we both walked in the direction of the car park. Once there, Simon helped me put the bags in the trunk. I unlocked the car and we both got in. Though, right after I put my seatbelt on, I realized he hadn’t put his on.

“Please put your seatbelt on,” I murmured. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I am a machine; I can’t get hurt,” he replied as he clicked the seatbelt in.

***

The family home was just on the edge of Detroit. The best thing about it was that I had a lot of fresh air around and didn’t have to listen to the hustle and bustle of the city that would make my headaches worse. My parents had the whole basement to themselves and I had the whole top floor to myself, except for when guests came over.

Simon looked around the front of the house, as if he was searching for something.

“Everything okay?” I wondered, kicking my boots off.

“Are there children?”

“Oh, Simon; I’m sorry. I thought you knew;  _ I-I’m  _ the children-- ah, child.”

His LED was flashing yellow; he was processing what I had said.

“I thought your initial scan of me would have told you,” I explained.

“I received your name and payment details from your purchase of me,” he replied, looking at me, obviously doing his scan. “But I see now that you chose me because you need help.”

With that, he turned and headed into the living room. He knew what to do without my having to tell him; that was nice, but at the same time I didn’t want him doing everything. I went upstairs to put his clothes away while he cleaned up. After that, I quickly cleaned up my bedroom and went back down.

“Do I take messages from ‘Iris’?” Simon inquired.

“Uh… No, you don’t have to. That’s just my mother. Okay, so you can’t go downstairs, but you can go upstairs and in the kitchen.”

“I did a scan and it appears everything is in correct order already.”

“I managed to clean before I came and picked you up. I didn’t want things to be too hectic or messy on your first day home.”

His LED was still yellow.

“When are you returning to school?” he wondered.

“As long as I get all my work done at home, they’ll allow me to graduate in June,” I told him. “It’s just that...I have a lot more homework than the rest of the students since I’m missing out on things like tests and I have no help.”

“Helping with homework  _ is  _ one of my functions.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

“Oh, I see you’re already awake,” Simon mentioned in the morning.

“I didn’t sleep,” I replied.

Doctor’s didn’t want to give me medicine to help me sleep; at least not yet. They wanted to try other things before they would even consider going that route. Warm milk, warm baths, no television, no phone before bed -- none of that worked. They could see that my insomnia wasn’t only affecting my health, but my schoolwork as well. That paired with the headaches was a rollercoaster. I had medicine for headaches, of course, but they only worked so much.

“Simon?” I mumbled.

His LED was yellow. “Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“Looking through your calendar. You don’t see your doctor for another week.”

“Mm…”

I tried climbing out of bed, but like many days the second I tried to stand up, I immediately dropped to the floor from the headache that felt like it was going to split my skull in two. Simon wandered over and helped me to my feet, his LED still yellow. I wanted to try and stand and walk on my own to get downstairs, but Simon made mention that I clearly wasn’t strong enough to do so. I’d done it so many times before, although it usually ended with me in a sweaty mess before I even reached the bottom step. Simon helped me downstairs and to the kitchen. His LED flashed red for half a second before returning to yellow.

“Will you be okay?” he wondered.

“It happens all the time; it’s why I’m not in school,” I replied, grasping the back of a chair. “I realize that I didn’t tell you much yesterday, so I’m sorry.”

“You should tell me your favourite foods.” He pulled a different chair out and helped me sit. “I have more than nine thousand recipes memorized, so I am sure they are in there.”

“I’ll make a list.”

“You should also tell me what you like to do. Everything I learn about you will help me adapt to you and your lifestyle. For now, how about I make you some breakfast?”

I nodded and put my head down on the table. Nobody was able to determine the causes for my headaches; in the beginning, they thought they went hand in hand with my insomnia. But no. They still came whether I had a good night’s rest or not. I tried changing my diet multiple times to no avail.

“Do you have anything planned today?” Simon asked. “There is nothing in your calendar.”

I sat up, wincing. “My days usually get played by ear if there are no appointments. I have to send off the homework we did last night.”

“Already done.”

“I… Thank you.”

Iris came upstairs, appearing in a rush. I hadn’t even realized she was home, otherwise I would have asked Simon if we could stay upstairs. She was wearing the same suit as the day before; it looked dry cleaned, though. Most of the time she showered at the office building. I had no idea where she slept when she didn’t come home; most likely it was a hotel room charged to the company credit card. Our house was more like a drop in for her and my father.

“Good morning, Mother,” I said.

“Not  _ now,  _ Mercy,” she snapped. “Where are my-- What is that?”

I followed her gaze; she was looking right at Simon, who was minding the stove.

“That’s Simon,” I told her. “The Android you said I could get to help me.”

“Well, you didn’t have to  _ name  _ the  _ thing _ ,” she snorted, rummaging through her purse.

“It’s a requirement, Mother. Even if it wasn’t, I still would have named him.”

She set her purse down on the table, leaned on it, and put a hand on her hip. If looks could kill, hers certainly would have chopped me up and thrown me into a river. I knew what she was thinking of scolding me with; she was going to tell me that Simon wasn’t a “he”, but rather an “it”. I found it so ridiculous that Cyberlife would create something with an assigned gender and give them that assigned gender’s voice and features but then refer to them as “its”.

“Mercy Greene--” she began.

“You’re entitled to your opinion...even though you’re  _ wrong _ .” I winced. “Simon, have you seen car keys that aren’t mine?”

Simon turned away from the stove and wandered over to the fireplace, where he picked up Iris’s keys. He set them on the kitchen table in front of me and returned to the stove.

“Thank you,” I told him, knowing Iris wouldn’t say anything to him.

“Whatever,” Iris muttered, snatching her keys up. “Clean my room for me later.  _ You,  _ Mercy; not that thing.”

She left before I could get another word in.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

“Your mother’s views on Androids aren’t unpopular,” Simon explained.

“No. But it’d be nice if she’d just  _ listen. _ ”

“I am a machine, Mercy.”

He set down a plate in front of me; eggs over easy and toast. It was usually what I made for myself on the days my headaches were bad.

“Thank you,” I said just as the doorbell rang. “That’s the mail; be right back.”

I took one step toward the front door and fell over from my lack of strength and the crippling headache. Simon helped me back up to my feet and into the chair before going to get the door himself. While he was doing that, I started eating.

“Is everything okay?” he asked when he came back. “You look surprised.”

“How did you make a basic thing taste so good?” I wondered.

“It’s just my programming, but that’s kind of you to say so. May I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Before you got me and you had these headaches, what would you do?”

“Lay on the floor until I gathered just enough strength to hobble to where it is I’m going, try not to burn the house down from cooking eggs, and then either sit in the living room knitting all day or sit in a bubble bath until the bubbles are gone. If there are leftovers in the fridge, eat those for dinner or order takeout.” I looked up at him. “I’ve been this way for a while.”

Simon set down an envelope next to me. It was my father’s writing on the front. Iris most likely called him wherever he was this time and told him what I had done, as I had predicted. I finished eating, but rather than opening the envelope right away I decided to go clean myself up. With some food in me I was at least able to walk slowly to the bathroom by myself.

When I got back, Simon was loading the dishwasher. I probably should have mentioned that I was going to do it, but it was too late. I just sat back down at the table and opened the letter from my father.

_ Mercy, _

_ How are you? It’s been a long time since we’ve talked. Your mother called me yesterday to tell me that you have gone and bought yourself an Android? Why would you put such a stress on her like this? You know how we feel about Androids. She said you said you need help? Why would you refuse her proposals for a human tutor and maid? Androids are putting people out of work, Mercy; I thought you knew better than that. In any case, your mother has put some rules in place for you and the Android, as I’m sure she has already told you: the Android can’t talk to us or go near our bedroom; if it gets broken, it’s your responsibility to fix it; if you’re not satisfied with the work it does, it’s your problem to return it to the store you bought it from. _

_ Your father, _

_ Timothy Greene _

“Everything he said here he could have said over the phone,” I muttered. “He didn’t even write it himself.”

TimothyTimothy was business with everything. I knew what his handwriting looked like; and this was no his handwriting, but rather his secretary’s handwriting. She travelled with him wherever he went when it came to work. He saw her more than he saw Iris. I guess to both Iris andTimothy Timothy that working all the time and earning so much money and not seeing each other, or their  _ daughter,  _ was a small price to pay to have such a nice house that they didn’t even live in. Did they also even realize I was sick? I’d looked Iris in the face many times during one of my headaches or after no sleep for three days and she never said a word or asked if I was feeling alright.

The house phone then began to ring. I just ignored it and requested Simon pay no mind to it. It rang a few more times before going to the answering machine. Iris’s face showed up on it and she didn’t look or sound very happy with me.

“Mercy, I don’t care if you’re angry at me -- you pick up when I call,” she snapped. “Whatever. I’m just calling to let you know that your Aunt Rebecca is coming tomorrow afternoon, and she’s bringing your cousins. They’ll be here for a week. She says it’s fine if your Android is around since she’s leaving hers to mind the house. Oh, and your father is flying in tonight.”

“Simon, can you drive?” I wondered.

“Yes,” he replied. “Do you need me to go somewhere?”

“I just need you to drive since I can’t right now; we need to go to the supermarket since the whole family is basically going to be here.”

“Of course.”

***

“You don’t have to listen to my mother or father, or my aunt and cousins,” I mentioned as we were waiting in traffic.

“Okay,” Simon replied. “I’m sorry for the traffic, Mercy.”

“It’s downtown Detroit; it happens and it’s not your fault.”

I leaned against my window. Now was not a time to get sick; what exactly was I going to do if I did? Opening the door and letting it all out on the road wasn’t exactly a good option, but it  _ was  _ the only option I could probably get away with without having Simon maneuver into the car park of my mother’s building.

“Are you all right?” he asked, abrupt. “Your body temperature has risen quite a bit.”

“I get car sick sometimes,” I admitted. “It’s fine.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Ah, I don’t know.”

I could feel my throat swelling up, and I immediately knew that, no, I was  _ not  _ going to be okay. I quickly told Simon what I needed him to do. As soon as there was a gap wide enough between cars for him to pull over to the car park, he did so. Other drivers weren’t too happy about being cut off like that. Simon barely stopped the car before I jumped out and ran into Iris’s building. It wasn’t even until I was safely in the washroom that I realized I hadn’t told Simon to just wait in the car. He wasn’t going to be able to access the building thanks to his programming and I hadn’t taken him to Android parking.

I managed to clean myself up best I could before heading back to the car. As I figured, Simon was still sitting there, waiting, but his LED was yellow. He hadn’t known what to do since I hadn’t given him any instructions after telling him to pull over. Though, I found out that he wasn’t trying to figure out what to do -- he was looking for an alternate route back home.

“It’s a dirt road and most likely rocky, but it’s a faster route,” he told me.

“I didn’t even know there was another way,” I admitted. “Go ahead. I’m sorry for leaving you alone like that.”

“It’s fine.”

It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep after Simon began driving again. I was so exhausted from not sleeping during the night, but the heat from the car and the stop and go traffic had just completely drained me. It was a wonder how I actually managed to make it so far without falling to the floor and passing out there. At least I’d been able to support myself during the running and walking.

“Mercy?” Simon asked, waking me up. “We’re home.”

I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. Timothy’s car was there. He was supposed to be coming in the evening, but it was only about mid afternoon. I groaned, putting my feet up against the glove compartment. There was no way I wanted to deal with him yet. My head was still hurting, even though it had lessened after being sick, and I was still so tired.

Simon looked at the house and then back to me. “Do you need help going inside?”

“No, no, I’ll be okay.” I inhaled sharply. “Just give me a moment.”

And only a moment it was. There was no point in delaying the inevitible of what was going to happen when I walked into the house with Simon. We got out of the car, gathered up the groceries, and headed inside. Timothy was in the kitchen pouring himself a drink. When he turned around, he said exactly what I had expected him to say.

“Shouldn’t your Android be carrying all of those bags?”

I sighed. “Hello to you, too, Father. This is Simon.”

Simon had immediately begun to put the groceries away; there was no time for him to look at Timothy. If that had happened, my father may have blown a gasket. Iris didn’t care if an Android looked at her, but he tolerated nothing. It was absolutely ridiculous. The company he worked for had Androids working in the gardens at the main building and he’d once come home ranting about a gardener just barely glancing at him. I didn’t know exactly what had happened to that poor Android, but there was blue blood on my father’s shoes.

“That letter was so unnecessary this morning,” I said. “You could have called me or waited until you were home.”

“Well, I didn’t know that I was coming home,” Timothy replied, matter-of-factly. “Rebecca dropped the bomb on your mother and since she’s my sister, I have to be here.”

“And she’s bringing her children with her.  _ Great. _ ”

“Isn’t your Android’s model specifically for children?”

I stared at him and walked away to help Simon put the groceries away. Timothy was referring to the fact that Simon could watch Rebecca’s children while the “adults” -- including myself -- spent some quality time together. Quality time together in the family was at the country club. Now that Iris was probably going to be running for the district, quality time was most likely also going to consist of campaigning. She wouldn’t be able to campaign for Android-free zones if I had Simon by my side. Iris and Timothy wanted to act like we were a happy family, but that was so obviously far from the truth.

“Don’t look at my father,” I whispered, looking up at Simon. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He blinked, his LED turned yellow momentarily, and he returned to putting groceries in the cupboard. A lot of things could happen in a week, especially with children around. There had to be something I could do to get out of “spending time” with the family and bring Simon along with me. No way I was leaving him alone with some children. I’d once called Rebecca to ask her something and her children had just been running amok in the background.

“I’ve made a reservation at the club on Thursday; your Android needs to babysit,” Timothy mentioned.

There it was. I had to come up with a lie, and fast, and just hope that Simon didn’t mention anything about not being scheduled.

“I can’t come on Thursday,” I said shakily. “Simon and I are going on a tour of the University of Detroit.”

“You can reschedule,” he retorted.

“No. No, I can’t. Those spaces are really limited, Father. Sorry.”

“You can’t go without your Android?”

“No. I might need his help.”

I could tell Timothy wasn’t happy about things going his way, but I refused to subject Simon to being bossed around by my little cousins. For all I knew, I could have ended up returning to Simon being covered in crayons, paint, glue, and whatever else it was that my cousins like to play with. With an over exaggerated sigh, my father went downstairs.

“Thursday’s tour is scheduled,” Simon told me.

I looked up at him, realizing that he had actually gone and scheduled for the tour. It was lucky of me to have pamphlet’s for different universities and colleges in my room, so I knew when tour dates for the year were scheduled. It was originally a lie just to get Timothy off my back about Simon having to babysit, but maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to actually go on that tour. I wanted to go to the University of Detroit, anyway.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

“You’re welcome.”

Once the groceries were put away, I made myself food and we went up to my bedroom to hide away from Timothy. Simon made my bed while I sat at my desk doing paperwork on the university’s website. There was no harm in applying for the fall, no doubt, and by the way my grades were looking there was a high chance of me actually being able to make it. Just as I sent it off, my bedroom door opened. I turned around in my chair to see Timothy. Luckily Simon didn’t turn to look at him, too.

“Your mother wants us all to go out for dinner tonight,” Timothy said.

“Homework,” I snapped back. “Close the door.”

“God, Mercy--”

“I’m busy, Father!  _ Thank you. _ ”

He wasn’t happy; he slammed the door as he left.

“May I ask you a question?” Simon inquired.

“Of course.”

“Why are you avoiding your family so much?”

“They only want to  _ act  _ like a family when it’s convenient for  _ them.  _ If Aunt Rebecca weren’t coming, Father and Mother would still be doing work and not come home. I don’t know where Father is most of the time, but I know Mother can be found at her office. She most likely sleeps in nice hotels rather than coming here. They barely acknowledge my existance and they don’t realize how sick I am. For the first twelve years of my life, I was taken care of by another lady who I originally thought was my mother. That’s how little I saw my parents as a child.” I shrugged. “They don’t want to be a family and I don’t want a family that doesn’t love me and only wants me when it’s convenient for them.”

Simon’s LED was red.

“Are you okay?” I asked, alarmed.

“Yes,” he replied. “That was just quite a lot of information.”

“I’m so sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

I woke up to insane shrieking in the morning. It took me a moment to realize what was going on -- Rebecca and her children arrived way earlier than expected. Being awoken so abruptly like that made me feel sick. Simon was standing next to the closet with his hands behind his back. He had gone and cleaned up the kitchen the morning before, but I had a realization that it wasn’t even that time. Looking at the clock, I realized it was barely seven AM. I shoved my head under my pillows and tried to go back to sleep. My cousins wouldn’t allow me to sleep any further, though; they burst into my bedroom and decided to jump on my bed.

“Mercy! Mercy!” they shouted. “Wake up!”

“Get off!” I snapped. “Gosh…”

They jumped off the bed and allowed me to sit up. They had barely grown since the last time I saw them, but they still weren’t perfect little angels like Rebecca always said they were. It wasn’t a moment until they realized that Simon was in the room.

“Mercy, is that your Android?” Christie asked.

“Ours is a lady!” Nolan chimed in.

They ran up to him and immediately tried climbing on him. My cousins weren’t grown, not children, but it wasn’t like they were totally heavy and big. But the fact was that Simon wasn’t their Android and they had no right to try and treat him how they treated their own Android. Simon’s LED was red, meaning he was realizing he wasn’t in a good situation. I quickly got up and grabbed both of my cousin’s by their collars and took them downstairs. I wasn’t in a good mood; I was exhausted and I had almost no strength. I had almost stumbled down the stairs, even.

“Hey, kiddo,” Rebecca said, closing in for a hug.

“Don’t touch me,” I demanded. “You need to teach these two not to barge into someone else’s room and try to climb their Android.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, Aunt Rebecca. If they broke Simon, how would you feel if I planted the bill for that on you?”

I let Christie and Nolan go and went back upstairs. I barely made it back to my bedroom before collapsing on the floor. Simon must have heard the  _ thump!  _ of my body falling because he immediately came out. He helped me up and back to my bedroom.

“Thank you; I’m sorry,” I panted as he sat me down on the bed. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Would you like me to make you breakfast?”

“No, no, that’s okay. Um… Okay; I’m gonna get dressed and we’re gonna go find a diner. I’ll drive.”

“I’m sorry, Mercy, but I don’t think you’re in any condition to drive. I’ll do it.”

He was right that I wasn’t in any condition to drive; I barely had a grip. I’d probably end up causing an accident if I even tried to get behind the wheel. I got dressed as fast as I could. Christie and Nolan were screaming like they were dying, running around the house. Where even were Timothy and Iris? Were they  _ home?  _ Did they know Rebecca had shown up early? In any case, I wasn’t going to waste my time trying to talk to any of them.

Downstairs, Rebecca was too busy reading a newspaper to pay attention to her children and her children were too busy running up and down the stairs to notice Simon and I sneaking out the front door. With how irresponsible Rebecca was, I was half-expecting for her car to be behind mine so I couldn’t leave. Luckily I wasn’t blocked and we were able to leave with no issues.

“There’s a diner not too far from here that allows Androids inside,” I sighed as I tapped the address into my car’s GPS. “Oh, I feel sick.”

“You were startled awake,” Simon noted.

“It’s gonna be a long week.”

We drove in silence for the rest of the way to the diner. I didn’t know how Rebecca’s Android got work done in such a chaotic house. Of course, she would have adapted after a while of living there, but I had to wonder how the house hadn’t burned down if she was cooking and my cousins climbed on her. Whatever they thought was appropriate to do with an Android, I didn’t want to have Simon subjected to it. If I refused to have him in Android parking, why would I subject him to the torture of my cousins? I put my feet up on the glove compartment and buried my face in my hands.

“Mercy?” Simon wondered.

“Don’t mind me,” I sniffled. “I’m tired, cold, and annoyed at my family. Ugh.”

“We’re here.”

I took no time in getting out of the car. It was freezing outside, so I grabbed Simon’s hand and walked quickly with him into the diner. The air was filled with the scent of pancakes, bacon, and maple. It was almost comforting. Because it was so close to the highway, most of the customers were truckers or families going on road trips. But aside from the waiters and cooks, Simon was the only Android in the whole place.

After sitting down, I grimaced. The exhaustion was getting to me. Not only had I not slept two nights before, but it had taken me hours to fall asleep before being awoken by my cousins. Living in that house was coming to be way too much for me; at least maybe during university I could live in a dorm and not have to deal with my family, ever.

“I think it’d probably be best to just sleep at a hotel until the week is over,” I said. “There’s no way I can deal with Christie and Nolan for that long.”

“Are there many places that will allow Androids?” Simon asked.

“No. If I can’t find any, then I’ll deal with the family.”

Simon began to blink rapidly; I was about to begin panicking but then he stopped.

“Your doctor sent a message,” he told me. “He’d like for you to come in this afternoon at three. What should I tell him?”

“Sure.”

I couldn’t sit comfortably, but no matter what I tried to do it felt wrong. Something was wrong, I knew that much. It had to have something to do with Christie and Nolan jumping onto my back. Perhaps one of their elbows had gone and jammed its way into my back. I hadn’t felt any sharp pain, though. To try and get my mind off of it, I looked around. There was a kid not too far from me that kept eyeing one of the waiter Androids. He was definitely up to something.

“Is everything all right?” Simon asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “That kid is acting weird.”

I was about to turn away when I realized he was sticking his foot out. It probably wouldn’t have been a big deal if the Android doing the serving wasn’t about to walk right into a disaster. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I had known what was going to happen and I didn’t do anything. Quickly, I got to my feet and walked as fast as I could over to the Android and grabbed his arm. He looked at me, his LED turning yellow.

“That little boy is going to trip you,” I told him. “Come this way.”

I watched the kid as the Android followed me around a set of tables; he looked thoroughly disappointed. But I wasn’t only just stopping the Android from getting hurt; there could have been a big possibility he could have gotten hurt, too, and his family. The tray that was being carried held clearly boiling hot water from the steam rising out of the spout and several plates of very hot food. It could have been a lawsuit waiting to happen. Not only would the owner of the diner get sued, but the Android involved would have either been reset or even possibly destroyed from humans getting hurt. He probably could have been deemed unsafe to be around humans should that kid’s plan worked out.

“You’re very observant of your surroundings,” Simon noted as I sat back down.

“I’m observant for the Android’s sake,” I replied.

He cocked his head slightly. “Why do you care for Androids? We’re only machines.”

_ Of course  _ Androids were programmed to say things like that. But they looked human, sounded human, behaved like humans sometimes, but they still saw themselves as machines. Most humans also only ever saw Androids as machines. They were blamed for many things, like the job losses. But even then it wasn’t their fault. They didn’t ask to be created. They didn’t ask to replace humans. It wasn’t their fault they could do jobs better than their human counterparts. They were, in many ways, just as alive as humans were. 

Before I could open my mouth to answer Simon, there was a crash behind us. I turned, only to see that the Android I had helped had been shoved by the little boy. I only knew that the kid had shoved him because the kid was telling his parents about it and not very quietly. The Android was now covered in hot water and maple syrup with a red LED. He wasn’t safe. I immediately got up and ran over to him and helped him up.

“Teach your kid some respect,” I scolded.

“Why?” the mother snapped. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Him wanting to have fun in a diner doesn’t matter. If it was a human, you’d be singing a different tune.”

“But it’s not human, so  _ it doesn’t matter. _ ”

I rolled my eyes and turned to the Android. His skin had repaired itself from hitting the table as hard as he did, but there was still blue blood on his face. Luckily the owner of the diner came out and took him into the back.

“Even if you think that Androids are just machines,” I said harshly, “then at least think about them as someone else’s property that you’re damaging.”

***

“What’s this?” my doctor wondered as she closed the door behind her. “An Android? Iris let you get an Android?”

“She was very reluctant. Why did you need to see me today? Our appointment wasn’t until next week.”

“I felt like we needed to see each other sooner. The blood tests we did last time came back inconclusive, so we need to take more.”

I hated getting blood taken. Even on a really bad day I could at least maneuver my way to get a bag on my shoulder, but any day I got a test done for blood I wasn’t even allowed to lift anything. At least with Simon around I didn’t have to worry, but I didn’t want him to do  _ everything. _

“It’ll really only take a moment or two,” my doctor reassured me.

“Fine,” I mumbled. “Simon, can you hold my hand?”

“Okay,” Simon replied, taking my hand in his.

It wasn’t the pain that made me fear needles; it was the fact it could possibly pierce my vein and I wouldn’t stop bleeding. Ordinarily my doctor would have had to retrieve one of the Androids that assisted in the office so I could squeeze their hand. Simon was coming in handy more than I had planned him to be. I felt bad, honestly. I brought him into a home that was welcoming to him, but only when it was just the two of us. He had already driven more than me and did more housework than I could do in such a short amount of time.

“Mercy, what does she need your blood for?” Simon inquired while my doctor was taking my blood samples away.

“Cancer,” I replied, sullen. “She’s looking for cancer.”

The doctor returned and told me when I should receive my new results by. By this point in time, she had taken so much blood from me that I was beginning to think that there was nothing wrong with my blood. They hadn’t found anything. My cells were apparently normal, but for the amount of different cancers there were they had to make sure and cover all their bases. But now they were saying my last tests were inconclusive?

I had Simon drive to a park where I could just sit and think. He stayed in the car while I went and sat on a swing. Because I was eighteen, the doctor didn’t have to call my parents. They didn’t know anything other than my health was bad. They didn’t know anyone was searching for  _ cancer.  _ I didn’t even know if I  _ wanted  _ them to know. I was already such a disappointment to them that telling them I was so sick would probably make them disown me altogether. Why would they want a disobedient  _ and  _ sick child? My school knew, which was why they were so forgiving and allowing me to actually miss school. My marks were fine; it was just my attendance that was horrible.

Eventually Simon got out of the car to come check on me. He stopped beside me and put his hands behind his back. When I had told him they were searching for cancer, his LED had momentarily flashed red, then yellow, and then back to blue. How did an Android process such things? Humans could  _ barely  _ understand it and they were the ones who discovered it, suffered from it, and eventually died because of it.

“Have they done anything else?” Simon asked.

“They’ve done scans of my body, multiple ones of my brain; tons of tests for my bones, including x-rays. Nothing has come back positive.” I looked up at him. “At first I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad that they couldn’t find anything.” I looked away again. “Turns out it’s bad.”

“They should be able to find something soon, right?”

“It’s been this way for three years now. I...hope they do. Can we change the subject?”

There was such a long silence that I was aware of an oncoming headache. I didn’t want to return to the house and have to endure Christie and Nolan’s screaming. If Iris and Timothy were home, and with Rebecca, there would be no peace. There would be no quiet.

“You never told me why you’re kind to Androids,” Simon reminded me.

“Right.” I sighed, thinking. “I’ve always been aware that humans mistreated Androids. My parents are two of them. I’ve witnessed Androids go through some things that they shouldn’t have to -- it’s not their fault they are what they are. Before I never used to try and help, but...when I was fourteen, we went to Pirate’s Cove, just outside the city. There were basically no human employees there -- just the owner of the park and maintenance workers. The Androids there...Jerry... are naturally so happy and have so much energy -- who would want to hurt that? Nolan was little at that time but understood when he shouldn’t do something. 

He climbed one of the Jerrys. Maintenance told him to get off, but he didn’t, and that Jerry had his arm fall off, and Nolan fell and broke his arm and sprained his ankle. Aunt Rebecca threw a fit, Mother and Father threatened to sue, and I...was shocked, really. It wasn’t Jerry’s fault. Why blame Androids for things that aren’t their fault? He was trying to do his job and Aunt Rebecca thought Nolan having fun was more important than an Android’s welfare. Maintenance didn’t treat him well, either; he was practically shoved who-knows-where. I just hope he was able to be fixed. But what really made me pay attention was not too long after that. Father came home and he had blue blood on his shoes. He’d kicked a gardener Android just so he’d be able to take his anger out on him. I don’t know how, but I just...became more aware just for the sake of Android’s.”

“You’re very kind, Mercy. Do your parents not realize this?”

“I’m an Android lover, Simon; usually people with narrow views in life stay narrow and refuse to change. It doesn’t matter if I’m their child. They wanted a good kid and what they ended up getting was a disobedient kid. Maybe that’s what happens when you pick from a different gene pool.”

“Oh.”

“They couldn’t have their own, so they tried to raise one to their liking and got the complete opposite. Disobedient. Android loving. Sick. I won’t apologize for seeing good in something that most people find bad.”

I shivered, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets.

“Would you like to go back to the car now?” Simon inquired.

“I think that’s best,” I mumbled.

He helped me to my feet and held my arm while we walked back to the car. Whatever was going to happen to me in the future was going to happen. Unless the medical field somehow became even better than it was already, there was nothing to change the course of my health and my body. Even though we were back in the car, I didn’t ask him to start driving. He sat in the driver’s seat while I used my phone to look up hotels in the Detroit area that allowed Androids inside the rooms. There was only one in the whole area, but I wasn’t going to complain. I tapped the address into the GPS of my car.

“Let’s just go straight there, okay?” I requested.

“Of course, Mercy.”

The hotel was on the other side of town. Some people would consider it as the nicer part of town. Maybe that was why it was the only one in the whole city to allow Androids. The richer a person was the more likely they were to want their Android to be with them, even on vacation. I was nervous just because it looked so nice and I was clearly quite young to even be standing in the lobby of the place. Not only were Androids allowed in, but the receptionists at the front were Androids themselves.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” the receptionist I approached said. “Do you have a reservation?”

“No,” I replied. “Um…”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. I just need to see your ID.”

I rummaged around in my bag before finding my card holder. Half the time it was in there and the other half it was sitting loosely either at the bottom of my bag or my jacket pocket. I fished it out and handed it over to the Android. She tapped some information into the terminal in front of her before handing my ID back.

“Okay; how long would you like to stay for?”

I originally only wanted to stay for one night, two at the most, but thinking about how destructive Nolan and Christie were made me change my mind. I opted for staying for a week and a day; that would give me the peace and quiet that I needed, and it would keep Simon from being climbed on and who-knew-what else. After my information was put into the system, she handed me a tablet for basic information.

NAME:  Mercy Penelope Greene

ANDROID SERIAL:  501 743 923

ADDRESS:  13550 West Nine Mile Road

Simon processed the payment and we were allowed to go up to the room. I never spent time in hotels until I started to get sick. There was one point in time where I had to go to another city for tests, I was alone and scared, but the hospital I was getting tested at were kind enough to send people to retrieve me and drop me back off. I appreciated the quiet, really, and now I didn’t have to worry about Simon getting yelled at or abused by my family. My grandmother on Timothy’s side left most of her money to me when she died; I could have gone and moved out on my own if I really wanted to. I thought that now that I had Simon I could do it without having to worry too much.

At least  _ I  _ could care for someone if my family couldn’t care for others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

Even though Timothy knew full well that I was going to be on tour at the university, it didn’t stop him from trying to blow up my phone with messages and calls. It became so bad that I had to turn my phone off just so I could concentrate on what the guide was saying. The campus was much too important to me already to bother with Timothy. I’d answer for ignoring him later, but for now I was enjoying wandering around with a bunch of other eager soon-to-be high school graduates. Eventually we were given maps and told we could walk around for a while before the buildings closed for afternoon classes.

“Would you like to stay or return to the hotel, Mercy?” Simon asked.

“I might as well see what my father wanted,” I replied. “No use putting that off any further.”

We returned to my car; it was a good day so far and thus I was able to drive. Simon put his seatbelt on, thankfully, and I was able to start driving toward Timothy’s work. I was at least hoping he was going to be at his company’s building; he wasn’t going to be doing any travelling while Rebecca and her children were visiting, but he could have just been staying at home. My answer as to where Timothy was was answered while we were approaching the building. During the approach, I had no idea  _ what  _ was going on or who was doing what, but I heard people shouting his name.

“Simon, can you stay in the car?” I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt.

“Of course, Mercy.”

I got out and ran in the direction of the crowd. Timothy was at the centre of it, kicking what I recognized as a gardener Android. Of course the Android wasn’t exactly reacting, but his LED was red as was to be expected -- luckily there was no blue blood. The company hired these Androids to help with the gardens, knowing full well that most of its employees despised them. It wasn’t like  _ gardener  _ Androids could take their jobs. But this crowd was thick enough and loud enough that even the buildings security guards were having trouble breaking it up. I wove my way between angry men and women to the centre of the circle.

“Father!” I snapped. “What are you  _ doing?! _ ”

“What’s it look like?” he replied, calm but slightly breathless.

“You’re beating up a harmless Android!”

Timothy stopped and looked at me; he didn’t even look angry about anything. Was he seriously just doing this to have  _ fun?  _ I knew that my parents were horrible people, but I would never think either of them could stoop so low as finding joy in abusing an Android for no reason. He shook his head, like he couldn’t believe what I was saying, and went back to kicking. Physical was the last thing I wanted to get, but before I could get another word in, Timothy caused a blue blood leak.

“Father, that’s enough!” I shouted, shoving him out of the way.

The sheer nerve of what I did caused the crowd to go silent and settle down. The security guards managed to get everyone dispersed while I helped the Android back to his feet. He was the same height as me, making it easy for me to make sure Timothy couldn’t take any sneaky swings at him.

“I come to see what you were blowing my phone up for and I find this?!” I shouted.

“It’s just a giant piece of plastic, Mercy!” Timothy barked.

“What do you got against this particular Android, Timothy?” one of the security guards asked. “This one is the only one you ever seem to pick on.”

“Pick on” was a severe understatement. I turned to the Android, taking my handkerchief out and cleaning up the blue blood from his face. So this was the Android Timothy had kicked that one time to get blue blood on his shoes. The reason for it being the same Android must have just been the fact he was assigned to my father’s building. His LED was yellow, now; at least it wasn’t red. He wasn’t in any immediate danger anymore.

“Let’s go, Ralph,” the other security guard said. “You need to run a diagnostic and it’d be better for you to do it in the building. Say ‘thank you’ to the nice girl, at least.”

The Android...Ralph...looked at me, deadpan. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied.

Ralph followed the security guards into the building, leaving Timothy and I alone. I turned to him.

“I’m your  _ father,  _ Mercy,” he scolded. “I didn’t raise any Android lover.”

“You didn’t raise me at all.” I scowled at him as I put my handkerchief back in my bag. “What did you want so bad that you blew my phone up?”

“Your mother needs your car; hers broke down this morning.”

“Meaning...Simon and I have to take the bus and train if we want to go anywhere.”

Timothy nodded and I shook my head in disbelief. There was no way I was subjecting Simon to the Android compartments on Detroit transit. That was a horrible thing to do, whether it be a human or an Android. People wouldn’t put their  _ dogs  _ in a separate compartment from them; they were allowed to mingle with the humans. I had learned about segregation when I was younger in school; before I knew about the Android compartments, I thought, as a race, we were past wanting segregation with those that were different. Of course, I was proven wrong eventually and I was devastated.

“Seeing as the car is mine -- paid for and owned by me -- I’m allowed to say no,” I said. “Just let her use  _ your  _ car. It sits at the airport most of the time, anyway.”

“Why are you doing this to us?” Timothy snarled. “Getting an Android, lashing out, trying to ruin your mother’s campaign -- what’s going on?”

“I’m sick, Father! Neither of you care. I’ve wanted and needed an Android for a while, but you and Mother are  _ scary  _ and you both hate Androids so it took me  _ forever  _ to ask for one. You’re never home! Either of you! You’re only here because Aunt Rebecca is here! I’m alone  _ all the time --  _ and that’s  _ tiring. _ Truth is, I don’t care about your guys’ feelings -- you’re both  _ monsters  _ and I hope Mother loses her district campaign because of what a horrible person she is. I’m not doing anything to you; you’re doing it all to yourself.”

I turned on my heel and stormed back to my car. Inside, I gripped the steering wheel, beginning to sob.

“Mercy, is everything alright?” Simon wondered.

“I don’t know why humans are the way they are,” I struggled to say. “We’ve had countless wars because of our differences, but it always stays the same, no matter the species. I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because I need help and you’re the one I chose. I knowingly brought you into my life when my parents are the way they are.”

“You’re not your parents, though. Like you said yesterday, you’re not related to them. Would you like a hug?”

I was almost taken aback by his question before remembering that part of his programming was to care for children, and most children, to my knowledge, needed a hug from time to time. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been hugged, genuinely.

“That’d be great,” I sniffled, leaning over to him.

He hugged me tightly and continued to hold me while I cried. I was so frustrated; no Androids deserved to be beaten just because someone was angry, or for any reason at all. They were essentially defenceless; not being allowed to carry actual weapons and they weren’t able to fight back. It was still new, but there were magazine articles that spoke about how Cyberlife was going to be making Android police officers. Even then, they weren’t going to be permitted to carry firearms.

***

In some ways, I was lucky. I was lucky to have been adopted by a very rich family. My grandmother, who had left me all her money, had loved me very much. I was lucky to be able to afford my own things, like the bed in my bedroom, the clothes on my back, my car, and now Simon. I was also going to be able to pay off my university tuition by myself. As it stood after fight with Timothy, I could have bought myself an older, small house in cash, and still be able to live comfortably. But I was also very unlucky because of my illness, the lack of attention and love from my parents, and not being able to go to school. Though, I could have possibly returned to school since I had Simon, but personal Androids weren’t permitted. At the very least I’d be able to take him to university with me.

After crying, we returned to the hotel. By then I was exhausted both from the tour and letting my feelings out. Simon made me a pot of tea big enough to last a long time, just so I wouldn’t fall asleep and ruin my sleep schedule. It was still quite early in the evening and so while I was looking through emails on the terminal in my room, I wasn’t surprised to see that Iris, Timothy, and even Rebecca were trying to call me. With what I had said earlier, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the three of them would try to lure me into some kind of “Android intervention”. Iris and Timothy were so self serving that they believed any “bad” thing that I did was just to spite them.

Simon stood next to me while I worked on the terminal, his hands behind his back. “How are you feeling, Mercy?”

“Tired, but better,” I admitted. “I’m just glad we don’t have to go back there for a while. My grandmother was smart to put all her money into good investments and stocks.”

“Would she accept you?”

“She did accept me. She put her money into what she did  _ because  _ of me. The second I was brought home through the door, she got on the terminal and did her research. She loved me up until the moment she died.” I sighed, agitated, and turned around in the chair. “Simon, would it be out of the question to buy a house?”

Simon looked away, blinking rapidly. I hoped he wasn’t looking through house listings. It took him a moment to look back at me.

“Taking into consideration how much money you have in your bank account and how low the economy is right now, it wouldn’t be out of the question,” he replied. “I’d recommend it so your stress levels decrease and your feeling of safety increases.”

“You can tell these things about me?”

“It’s in my programming.”

The hotel room’s phone began ringing. Thinking it was the front desk, I answered.

“Good evening, Miss Greene,” the Android on the other end said. “There is a woman here asking for you. Miss Iris Greene.”

I looked at Simon, my eyes widening.  _ Of course  _ she’d tracked me down. Why wouldn’t she have? She must have gotten fed up with trying to call my phone and instead decided to see where I was. I knew I should have asked to be listed as invisible. The Android notified me that even the human manager had tried to ask Iris to leave, but once she opened her mouth about who she was, he backed down and told the Android to call me. Iris wasn’t going to leave without seeing me; I knew that much. I requested that she be sent up.

“Are you okay?” Simon asked. “Your heart rate just picked up.”

“I’m fine,” I lied. “Just don’t look at my mother, alright?”

It was a good couple of minutes until there was a knock on the door. Iris’s knock. Simon moved to get it himself, but I stopped him and got up myself. Iris was so impatient; she wasn’t letting up between knocks. It was so rapid that when I opened the door she almost hit me in the face.

“I’m not going to bother asking how you found me,” I sighed. “Come in, I guess.”

She followed me into the room, closing the door behind her. As she entered the area with the desk, she scowled at Simon, who was standing in the corner with his hands behind his back. I sat on the chair that was next to the couch and she sat in the desk chair. Iris folded one leg over the other. Even when she “had” to come see me, she was dressed in the same kind of clothes she wore to work. I had never seen her in a casual dress or sweatpants. I knew she worked out at a gym, but I couldn’t imagine her in workout clothes.

“If you didn’t want to be found, you should have gone to a hotel that doesn’t allow Androids,” Iris scolded. “Or at the very least, requested to be invisible.”

“I realize that now, Mother, but I refuse to subject Simon to Android parking. If you’re here to ask for my car, use Father’s.”

“It’s not about the  _ car;  _ it’s about what happened at his office today.”

I stared at her.

“What you did was inappropriate,” she explained. “Embarrassing your father like that in front of his colleagues.”

“Because abusing Androids that are incapable of fighting back  _ isn’t  _ inappropriate or embarrassing?” I retorted. “You and Father are just so hateful that you don’t see what you’re doing is wrong. I don’t want Simon getting hurt, so I have to tell him to not even look at you. People like you are needlessly cruel.”

“I’m your mother, Mercy. Watch how you speak to me.”

“You may be my  _ mother,  _ but you’re not my  _ mom. _ ” I stood up with a sigh. “You and Father don’t care about anything but your images.”

Iris clenched her hands into fists as she stood up.

“Both you and Father are monsters, Mother,” I told her. “It isn’t right. I hope maybe one day you’ll change, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. You care for nothing but your work and your money; you’re both so caught up in things that don’t matter.”

“That’s not true--”

“When is my birthday? What’s my favourite colour? What’s my favourite food?” I gave her a good couple of moments to answer me. “That’s what I thought. You tried so hard to get me and then you never paid attention to me or loved me.”

Without any warnings whatsoever, she unclenched one of her fists and slapped me hard across my face. Her nails scratched my cheek as she did so, breaking skin. I held my breath in shock before bringing my hand up to cover the scratches. There was silence from both of us for a long moment. Iris was the one to break the silence.

“Think about  _ that  _ the next time before you want to have an attitude,” she spat.

“Please leave before I call security, Mother,” I whimpered.

She left, muttering about how I was a disappointment. The door slammed shut behind her, causing me to jump.

“Mercy?” Simon inquired.

I brought my hand down quickly. “I’m fine. It’s nothing. It’s…”

I was scared. Neither Iris nor Timothy had ever hit me before. I was okay with scoldings. I was okay with getting yelled at. They were scary enough just by doing that, but that slap had made my fear of them, or at least just Iris, worse. I was fighting back tears; the initial shock had subsided quickly. All that was left was the fear and the pain. Not to mention the blood.

“C-Can you bring me the first aid kit, please?” I sniffled.

“Of course.”

I sat back down, looking at my hand. There wasn’t much blood on it, but just enough to make me worry. Iris had been so angry with me. She really couldn’t see that she wasn’t a good person. Did she think she was? Or was she so trapped in her own world that she thought she was a genuine good person? I really had to wonder. I was still lost in thought when Simon returned.

“It’s best that I do it,” he assured me.

I didn’t argue. It took him no time to disinfect the cuts on my face. After he was done putting the first aid kit back, I wrapped my arms around him tightly. He had barely made it out of the bathroom. When I backed away, his LED was yellow and he was looking at me like he didn’t understand. I’d said I was okay; of course he was confused. That was my own fault.

“I lied,” I admitted with a sniffle. “It’s something I shouldn’t have done, but I did. S-So, um, how about we look into houses?”

***

In the morning, I came out of the bathroom to find my phone vibrating. I’d only gone for a short shower, but there were several missed calls from a number that I recognized as Timothy’s boss. Whatever it was, it must have been important to call me and not Iris. I grabbed my phone and answered it.

“Mercy Greene,” I announced.

“Hi, this is Timothy Greene’s boss, Benjamin,” the man on the other end replied.

What even was his last name? I didn’t know; he was on a first name basis with  _ everyone  _ and Timothy only ever called him by his first name. What did he want from me?

“What can I help you with?” I inquired.

“See, we have a set amount of Androids that work on our building,” Benjamin told me. “And I was told you witnessed your father attacking one of them yesterday.”

“Ralph.”

“Yes, that one. Only one of the security guards will sign a disclaimer and none of the others who witnessed it will come forward.”

“What are you asking for?”

“I just need you to sign some papers so we can serve your father the bill for fixing that Android up.”

I took the phone away from my ear and stared at it for a moment. Was I hearing that correctly? They actually gathered up the nerve to do something about my father? Even if it wasn’t that a serious punishment, at least it was  _ something.  _ I hadn’t realized just how bad Timothy had beaten Ralph. The blue blood hadn’t been much of an issue to clean up, but there was still the worry of broken biocomponents. Thinking back on it, I thought I had noticed a slight crack in his thirium regulator.

“Um, yeah, sure,” I stammered, putting the phone back to my ear. “When can I stop by?”

“Are you able to come soon?” Benjamin asked.

I confirmed that I’d be able to be there soon. As soon as I hung up, though, I suddenly lost the strength I had in my hands. I dropped my phone on the floor. Kneeling down to pick it up, my nose began to bleed. I rushed back into the bathroom and grabbed a towel to push against my face. Simon was still idling in the corner of the bedroom. I didn’t want to wake him until I had to leave. There was no use in troubling him over something that neither of us could help. Unless I began to feel extremely lightheaded, there was no need to wake him up to ask for help. Even if I had no strength in my hands, I could at least keep pressing the towel into place using the back of my arm. Though I had to admit I felt like a fool sitting in the bathroom for twenty minutes waiting for a nosebleed to stop.

Once it finally ended, I dropped the towel into the bathtub. The strength was slowly coming back to my hands, and so I was able to slip into my clothes for the day. I picked my phone up from the floor and grabbed the things I needed.

“Simon,” I sighed.

“It’s early for you to be awake,” he noted.

“I didn’t sleep again last night. We have to go to my father’s building so I can sign some things.”

“Okay. Did you need me to drive?”

“No, I should be okay.”

It didn’t take long for us to reach Timothy’s office. Since I was going to be going inside the building, I had Simon come with me. The building was very anti-Android, but there were no signs anywhere indicating that they weren’t permitted. The security guards, after all, had taken Ralph inside the day before. There was also an indoor garden, so I supposed gardening Androids had to go into the building anyway. I was able to get past security easily since they recognized me as Timothy’s daughter and Simon and I found our way upstairs to Benjamin’s office.

“Hello!”

Simon and I turned to see a blonde Android with her hair up in a ponytail smiling at us. An ST200, to be exact. The first of her model was the first Android to pass the Turing test. Timothy had never mentioned an Android working for his boss.

“You must be Mercy Greene,” she said. “Benjamin is just inside his office. Won’t you follow me? Your Android can come along, too.”

“Thank you,” I murmured.

We followed her into a spacious office. It looked better than Iris’ office, at least. There were photos of what I assumed was family members, landscapes, and there were plants everywhere. Behind the desk was Benjamin; he still looked the same as I remembered him. I had only been a little girl the last I had seen him, but that was a face I couldn’t forget. He was a very kind looking man, at least.

“You got here sooner than I expected,” Benjamin mused, standing to take my hand.

I shook his hand firmly. “I don’t like to keep most people waiting if I don’t have to. This is Simon. What did I need to sign?”

He handed me a clipboard that held a few sheets of paper. The papers were the bill, including the tax, the Android model, the name of the Android, Cyberlife’s invoice and the copy that would be going to Timothy, the list of damages, and then the testimony sheet.

**Android Model: WR600****  
** **Android Serial: 021 753 034**

**Year of Manufacture: 2031**

**Android Name: Ralph****  
** **Android Type: Gardener****  
** **List of Damages: Damage to thirium pump regulator (cracked), damage to thirium pump/heart (cracked), loss of thirium 310 (minor), internal scratching of left bicomponent arm (minor)**

I read the testimony sheet over carefully before signing it and handing it back to Benjamin.

“Thank you, Mercy,” he said. “Sorry for making you come down like this.”

“It’s no trouble,” I replied. “Is Ralph going to be okay?”

“Oh, yes, he’s fine. He’s already back to working in the gardens. We had him repaired overnight and brought back earlier this morning.”

“My father isn’t around, is he?”

“No. The higher ups called him this morning to tell him to stay away for a few days.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

I sat in my car in the parking lot of Iris’ building. Needing clothes for the last couple of days at the hotel, I had decided to drive back to the family house. I’d left Simon at the hotel, claiming I would be okay by myself. The problem with bringing Simon was Nolan and Christie seeing him and deciding to turn him into monkey bars. But the feeling in my hands had suddenly disappeared and I had to try my best to pull into the parking lot. I was only so lucky that I didn’t cause any accidents. Simon had insisted he come; I had to explain why I didn’t want him to come. I was worried for his safety more than anything.

Inhaling sharply, I wiggled my fingers. The feeling in my hands was returning and so I started up the car again. Before I could pull away, I saw Iris storming over toward my car. If I just drove off, I’d certainly get another visit and some angry phone calls. But if I stayed and let her in, I’d still get an earful. I couldn’t make my decision in time and she made it to my car. Begrudgingly, I unlocked the passenger side door and let her in. She muttered something about the bus as she put the seatbelt on. My mother? Taking the bus? That was unheard of. Had Timothy just decided not to give her his car? I couldn’t picture Iris on the bus, especially if she had to be so close to Androids.

“You’re welcome,” I said quietly as I pulled out of the parking lot.  
“Where’s your Android?” Iris inquired, ignoring my passive-aggressive tone.  
“Safe. I need to pick up some clothes and I’m not going to submit Simon to the tortures of Aunt Rebecca and her kids.”  
“Those are your cousins you’re talking about, Mercy.”  
“Those cousins also ripped the arm off of that Android at Pirate’s Cove. They tried climbing Simon like he’s just some kind of park equipment and they have no discipline.”  
“Jesus, Mercy, don’t call it ‘he’.”  
“I’ll call him by the pronouns all I want. This is my car and I’d like for it to be quiet now. Thank you.”

And quiet it was. Iris didn’t like losing an argument and so she would have ended up ending it herself before she could actually lose it. Upon arriving at home, I barely left the car before hearing Nolan and Christie screaming inside. I just wanted to get in the house and then immediately leave. Speed-walking ahead of Iris, I opened the door to find the house in complete and utter disarray. I could only assume that Timothy decided to spend his time elsewhere if the family wasn’t to be spending time together and Iris spent all her time at work and most likely a hotel. The mess was one of the worst I had ever seen in my life.

There were dishes everywhere -- half drunk coffee in mugs scattered around; plates stacked on each other not only on the counters but as well as the island, coffee table, and dining table; utensils pulled out of the kitchen drawers; tea towels flopped over the back of chairs and the couch. There were even clothes, dirty and clean strewn about the floor, the banisters, and the steps going upstairs and down. Is this what Aunt Rebecca’s house would have looked like if it weren’t for their Android? Were they just expecting for me to come home with Simon and he would clean it all up?

“Mercy!” Nolan exclaimed, running up to me. “Where’s your Android?!”  
“He needs to clean this place up,” Rebecca mentioned from the kitchen.

I blinked, looking around the house repeatedly. My head was beginning to hurt and my heart began to beat quickly. The mess was too much to look at and to handle. Rebecca and her children were so dependent on their Android. How long had it been since they’d managed to even clean up after themselves? I could only help but think that they had never cleaned after themselves and that’s precisely why they bought an Android to begin with. The current state of the family house was causing me much too anxiety to even step further than the front door. I moved out of the way so Iris could step in.

And Iris proceeded to scream so loudly that if we had neighbours, they probably would have thought someone was being murdered. Iris had no obligation to be kind to Rebecca; she wasn’t her sister. Timothy probably knew just how bad Rebecca could get and that was why he wasn’t around. Iris began sobbing hysterically at the state of the house. She immediately turned back to me.

“You bring that damn Android back here _right now_!” she barked.  
“Clean it yourself,” I breathed. “None of this mess is mine and even if it was, Simon would only clean a portion of it with me! Forget my clothes; I need to leave.”

I slammed the door shut and ran back to my car. There was no way I was taking Simon back the family home unless absolutely necessary. But then, what was ever going to be so necessary that he had to come back with me? The drive back to the hotel was loud since rush hour was just beginning, and then the lobby of the hotel was just as loud, if not louder, and the people checking in for the weekend on the elevator were loud, and the hallway was loud. I barely finished scanning my key-card before opening the door to the room. The door slammed shut behind me. There was no noise in the room. It was totally quiet. Serene, if that’s what someone could call it.

Simon wandered out of the bedroom. He must have scanned me because he asked, “Are you alright? Your heart is beating faster than normal.”  
“I needed quiet, that’s all,” I replied.  
“You didn’t get clothes?”  
“I couldn’t go in, Simon.”

He didn’t inquire further; instead, he let me sit on the couch to relax. If Simon and I didn’t find a house before the hotel stay was up, then I was going to have no choice but to either return to the family home or continuously extend how long I was to be at the hotel. We were to go see a house the next day, on Saturday, that sounded promising and we had seen a house earlier in the day that was in an area that I wasn’t particularly fond of.

“You received a message from the University of Detroit admission’s board while you were out,” Simon mentioned.  
  
I grabbed my phone off the coffee table and looked through my email to find the message. Once I found it, I took my time reading it. At first I was confused and had to read it several times over. My silence was probably concerning for Simon; he came over to me and asked if I was okay.

“I...got in,” I said. “Um... I was hoping I’d get in, but I thought I wouldn’t because of my attendance records.”  
“When do you start?”  
“Middle of August, if I can keep these grades up. That’s not for another little while, though.” I shook my head, the headache becoming worse. “I’m gonna go rest for a little bit, okay?”  
***

The house we were viewing was a nice little ranch just slightly outside of Detroit. It was quiet and held enough acres that I wouldn’t have any neighbours should I choose to buy it. The house itself was of the older variety, but was still in good condition. At the most, I’d only have to repaint the walls. Enough bedrooms for a small family. It probably would have passed my grandmother’s expectations. The only reason I was even being considered to look at the place despite being so young was because of Iris, plus I told any sales agents that I’d be paying straight up, no mortgage or anything of the sort. While the agent was off taking a phone call, I turned to Simon.

“I like it,” I admitted. “Do you like it?”  
“I have no opinion,” he replied.  
“It would be a place to call ‘home’.”

Simon and I wandered around for a few more minutes while waiting for the agent to come back. I looked out the kitchen window; the backyard was big enough I could have another structure built there. There was more than enough space to do what I wanted. It was farmland, of course, but it wasn’t my intention to do any of that. Maybe I’d have a small garden. I turned around when I heard the front door shut. The agent looked slightly exasperated.

“Everything okay?” I inquired.  
“Oh, yes,” she replied. “Other clients, is all. So have you made a decision?”

I thought about the area the place was in. It was secluded, so not many people would have wanted to live there. It was quiet and many people needed to hear at least trains on tracks to relax. It was a good forty-five minutes to get into Detroit, so people who didn’t drive couldn’t live there. Simon and I probably weren’t going to find anything better than this.

“We’ll take it,” I murmured.

Without much more words exchanged, papers were signed, money was exchanged, and overwhelming feelings of dread were gone. I was going to have to get power, heat, and water set up before we could officially move in, but I was going to have that done as soon as possible. Hopefully by the time everything was said and done, I could move my things from the family home freely since Timothy was going to be travelling for work again and Iris wasn’t crawling down my throat about Simon; not to mention Rebecca, Nolan, and Christie were going to be returning back to where they actually lived.

As we were driving back in the direction of downtown Detroit, my hands started losing their feeling again. I ignored it as best I could, but Simon noticed the expression on my face. Ordinarily I held the steering wheel at ten and one, and he even noted that I was holding it at seven and five instead. Instead of listening to him when he asked to drive, I told him I was fine; just tired from all the travelling.

I was fine until I almost swerved off the road.

“Mercy?” Simon turned to me, his LED red.  
My breathing was rapid from the panic. “A-Are you okay?”  
“I’m driving.”

I didn’t bother arguing; if it were to happen again, I might not have been able to stop myself in time. I couldn’t let Simon get hurt because I wanted to pretend everything was okay. In the passenger seat, I ended up struggling to get the seatbelt buckled. Simon had to reach over and do it for me before beginning to drive. The whole time I kept glancing at him to keep an eye on his LED. It luckily returned to blue before we even entered city limits. Coincidentally, I received a message from my doctor telling me she needed to see me immediately, and we were just down the road from her office.

“Stay here,” I said. “I won’t be long.”

Simon turned off the car as I got out. I went into the office with a bad feeling in my stomach. The test had been inconclusive the first time; why would it be any different the second time around? Was she going to ask me for another blood test? Through the years, I’d had too many tests done that involved needles. I was tired of being poked at and prodded and there being no results. At least this was the last test they considered. If it came back negative, I didn’t have to worry about being stabbed all the time anymore.

I wasn’t in the waiting room for more than a few seconds before my doctor came and whisked me away to the room. She didn’t inquire about where Simon was; she couldn’t do that to stall for time. What doctor was okay giving news? What she did do, though, was repeatedly looking through the test sheets over and over again. It just made me feel even worse.

“I’m in a rush,” I told her.  
“Mercy, I don’t know how to tell you,” she admitted.  
I swallowed hard, knowing that I was going to leave feeling bad one way or another. “Don’t try to sugarcoat it. Don’t beat around the bush. Just...tell me.”  
“As you know, all the tests we have conducted have been false, one way or another. This last test was no exception.”

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek. No way was I going to cry in this office.

“This means that, unfortunately, we have no other tests to conduct,” she continued. “Thus, we don’t know what disease you have. All we know is that it’s slowly killing you. We suspect that perhaps you were born with it, but there’s no way to confirm that.”  
“Great,” I choked out.  
“Would you like for me to notify your parents for you?”  
“Forget my parents; what about Simon?”  
“Mercy, I’m sorry. All I can suggest is taking it easy. We don’t know how much time you have left. I would still like it if you came in once a week so we can check how your vitals are. Can you agree to that?”  
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” I sniffled. “Just... Just book me in for whenever and-and-and I’ll come, okay? I need to go.”

Before she could get another word in, I bolted out of the office and out of the building and back to the car as fast as I could. In the car, I slammed the door shut. Simon looked at me, his LED turning yellow.

“What did she say?” he wondered.  
“Nothing important,” I lied. “We can go now.”

We returned to the hotel, where I locked myself in the bedroom to be alone. My parents could be damned; what would happen with Simon? Would he be shoved off to my parents or would he be sent back to Cyberlife and reset? I couldn’t allow that to happen, even though I knew that the worse I became the more Simon would have to help me. I got him to help me only a little bit, not a lot or to eventually do everything for me. Sometimes he still did almost everything despite my not wanting him to.

After a good couple of hours of being by myself, I went out into the living room area. Simon was standing against the wall in the corner with his hands behind his back. He deserved better; all the Androids deserved better. I had to wonder if my treating him as if he were a human being did anything to benefit him.  
***

_ **Several months later, Autumn** _

“How were the lectures today?” Simon inquired when I got into the car.  
“Pretty good,” I replied. “There’s still a couple people that are disruptive. I guess they still haven’t got high school out of their systems. Oh! Hey, look.”

I opened my bag and pulled out a paper I had to write for my historic studies class. We’d been allowed to write anything we wanted so long as it was history. Most people in my class went so far back in time to the 1700s or further, but I decided to stick close to home and write about Cyberlife. There had been no way to get just a small interview with its founder since he hadn’t been seen or heard from in years, but I still somehow managed to snag a perfect “A”.

“Good work,” Simon praised as he began driving.  
“I got docked on the lack of Elijah Kamski interview, but I’m still happy about it,” I mused. “My professor is really good.”  
“It’s an Android, right?”  
“He is an Android, yes. Oh, I see what you’re saying. It’s in his function to be a good teacher. My other teacher’s are okay; they’re human so there’s bound to be some issues there. My journalism professor is decent, though. He’s already asked us to start thinking about what our final mock journalist column is going to be about.”  
“Do you know?”  
“I’ve known for a while now about what I really want to write about; I’ve just been waiting for a good opportunity.”

Simon had taken to driving me to and from school every day. I had never told him about what my doctor had told me. The only reason I was allowing Simon to do it was because I’d almost gotten into several other accidents when he wasn’t in the car. Each time I had told him about the accidents, his LED had turned red. I hated that it took me so long to realize how much I hated seeing that reaction and finally let him begin driving me everywhere. He really didn’t seem to mind and I didn’t have to worry about rear-ending a car or driving off an escarpment or driving into a ditch. Other than Simon doing many things for me, the other thing I hated about him driving me was when we was processing data, like when he received a message that hadn’t yet reached my phone. It worried me to no end that he was going to be the one crashing into something. Luckily that was never the case.

“Your aunt and cousins are returning,” he told me.  
“I have a feeling as to why,” I replied when my phone dinged.

As I had suspected, when I looked at the message Iris had sent me, Rebecca, Nolan, and Christie were returning to Detroit so they could go to Pirate’s Cove before it closed down for winter. I had no idea as to why they didn’t go during the summer, but I sure wasn’t going to let them go alone and potentially make another Jerry, or the same one, lose his arm again. I sighed.

“It’s been a long time since I was there,” I mentioned. “I wonder if that Jerry remembers me.”  
“Will you be going, then?” Simon asked.  
“Yes. Someone has to control Aunt Rebecca’s kids if she won’t.”  
“Can I accompany you? Your headaches could spike.”  
“You can come, of course.”

The rest of the drive home was talking about school. It wasn’t as intense as I had expected it to be. In some ways it was more relaxed than I remembered high school being; but of course, there were elements that were more strict than high school was. If someone was to miss one day of class in high school, it wasn’t that much of a big deal; if someone was to miss one day of class in university, they might as well have missed a week. Luckily I had managed to make it to all of my classes every day, even if I was late sometimes. There were times when Simon would have to slowly coax me out of bed. Those days were the worst to begin with, but then I couldn’t even write or type in class and I’d have to record the lectures. I -- and a few other students who were ill -- was lucky to be accommodated so well.

On the bad days after school, Simon spent his time sitting at my bedside in case something bad were to happen. It had only happened a few times and all of them were spikes of my headaches. I’d learned that having him press against my temples would help ease the pain. Other times he would hold my hand while I tried to fall asleep.

On the good days after school, we would be out in the garden. It wasn’t in his function to know how to garden, so he would just help with the cleanup afterward and we’d go inside to cook. Whatever was wrong with me had taken a break in continuing any further. I didn’t know how long it was going to be okay and so I didn’t want to miss out on being with Simon or being in school if I didn’t have to.

“Simon?” I stopped cutting the carrot I had. “What do you do when I’m in school?”  
“I clean and I prep food for the evening,” he replied. “I do the shopping, too. Last week I fixed the sink. When you have those shorter days, I stay in the parking lot. If I knew how, I would harvest so you wouldn’t have to.”  
“Thank you, Simon, but it’s okay.”  
“Have you maybe considered purchasing a WR600 to help with the garden?”  
I blinked, halfway through cutting the carrot. “No; no, I haven’t. I’m aware if someone has enough money, they can get Androids that are more likely to be found working for the city or an organization. But anyway, shoving my hands into the dirt is calming for some reason.”  
“Mercy.”  
“If the time comes when I need help with the garden, then I’ll consider it. For now I’m--”

I yelped, having cut into my hand with the knife. Simon immediately handed me a fresh tea towel; he’d learned quickly not to patch my cuts up until I asked him to help. He helped me maintain pressure, though. I luckily hadn’t cut myself deep enough for me to require going to the hospital for stitches. Simon had basic first aid in his programming and would have caught on if I needed stitches before I could even realize it myself.

“I shouldn’t talk and cut at the same time,” I stammered.  
“I should have said something,” he replied.  
“What? No, this isn’t your fault, Simon. Don’t blame yourself. This is my doing. Are you okay?”

He blinked at me. Of course he wouldn’t understand why I was asking if he was okay -- _I_ was the one who was hurt and bleeding; not _him_. But my yelp had been loud and I’d noticed his LED flashed red for only a second before returning to blue. I’d gone and probably clipped his audio processor. After a few minutes, I pulled the towel back; the cut wasn’t too bad, but I was definitely going to need Simon’s help. He went and grabbed the first aid kit from the bathroom.

“I should do the chopping from now on,” Simon suggested as he disinfected the cut.  
“No, don’t say that,” I quickly retorted. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m sorry. I was distracted; it was my fault. You already do so much for me. If things get worse, then okay, but for now you don’t need to worry. It won’t happen again; I promise.”

Simon finished cleaning up the cut and wrapped a bandage around it. He returned the first aid kit to the bathroom while I wandered back over to the carrot. I was lucky enough that I didn’t get any blood anywhere other than the floor. I knelt down and grabbed the floor cleaner from under the sink. Simon returned just when I was finishing up.

“I was going to do that, Mercy,” he told me.  
“I’m okay doing it,” I replied, closing the cupboard. “Just, um...can you help me up?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

Nolan and Christie were little monsters. Before we could even get into the park, they both decided to climb on one Jerry. He just smiled and took it in stride, as was his programming. Before they could do any damage, I pulled them off of him. Rebecca was, of course, paying no attention to the children. Iris and Timothy were uncomfortable - - why did they even agree to go? Last time had been just as miserable. When I wasn't busy wrangling Nolan and Christie, I stayed close to Simon and held his hand. Simon's LED was yellow the whole time, being busy processing everything that was going on around him.

Nolan and Christie ran up to another Jerry. Before they could jump on him or grab him, he welcomed them to the park, much to their shock.

"Welcome to Pirate Island, me hearties; you're gonna have a whale of a time!"   
"Nolan, Christie, go on the Ferris wheel!" Iris shouted, looking exasperated.

For once they listened and took off toward the line-up for the Ferris wheel. Meanwhile, Iris and Rebecca wandered off elsewhere, and Timothy wandered toward the line-up with Nolan and Christie. I had no idea what to do at that point. The kids weren’t hellbent on ripping an Android’s arm off this time around, but it was still early in the afternoon. Pirate’s Cove was an adventure, to say the least, and their idea of an adventure had always clearly resulted in at least one Android getting hurt.

“What would you like to do, Mercy?” Simon wondered.

Just as I was about to answer, the Jerry that welcomed the kids to the park looked at us. What was he looking at us for? Or was he looking at me? Was it the Jerry that got his arm ripped off?

“You’re Mercy, aren’t you?” he asked, moving closer to us.  
“Yes,” I replied, chalking his knowing my name to hearing Simon say it.  
Though, that wasn’t the case. “Were you okay after what happened? The children took my arm off right in front of you.”

He was saying all of this with such a cheery demeanour that it was almost concerning. But his model was meant to always be cheerful and fun and never run out of energy like a teenager would.

“Was it you-you or was it another you?” I inquired.

I almost confused myself trying to come up with that sentence.

“No, no, it was me,” he assured.  
“I can’t believe you remember me...” My answer came out like a mumble. “But were you okay? Seeing you get an arm ripped off wasn’t a pleasant thing to see, but you’re the one who got hurt.”  
“We remember every face we’ve ever seen! And of course I was okay. Oh! I have to go. Have a good visit!”

He wandered back to his spot and continued to welcome children and families to the park. I looked at Simon watch the families walk by. His LED was yellow. He would say he didn’t “want” anything, but was his coding telling him he should have been with a family with children? His watching was so intense as well.

“Do you want to be with a family?” I asked.  
He looked down at me, his LED returning blue. “Mercy...”  
“I know, I know. You’re not able to ‘want’. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing to have, though; the ability to ‘want’.”  
“My model may allow me to care for children, but my model doesn’t have to care for children. I am fine with you.”  
“To be honest,” I let out a quiet sigh, “I can’t really imagine having a different Android. I really l--”

I was interrupted by Timothy screaming at the Jerry operating the Ferris wheel. He was screaming something about how it was fine if Nolan and Christie went on without an adult or an older teenager. That poor Android’s LED was red from how intense Timothy was screaming at him. Even Nolan and Christie didn’t look happy. Before he could even attempt to do anything else, I rushed over and pushed Timothy out of the way.

“I’ll go with them,” I said shakily. “It’s okay if my Android comes, too, right?”  
“Of course!” the Jerry said, cheery as ever. “Go on ahead.”

I waved Simon over and we got on the car with the kids. My head began to hurt right when we began to move and I could feel myself becoming panicked. At about halfway, Nolan cocked his head at me.

“Are you okay, Mercy?” he mumbled. “You don’t look so good.”  
“I’m fine,” I replied. “Don’t worry.”

I tried to distract myself with different thoughts. How was it allowed in the Jerrys coding to let them bounce right back after being screamed at? What happened to the Jerrys during the winter? Why were there kids screeching like they were being murdered? Why was a Ferris wheel called a Ferris wheel? When was our turn going to be done?

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Simon asked. “You’re very pale.”  
“Mm-hm.” If I opened my mouth I was going to vomit, for sure. “Mm-hm...”

I was deathly afraid of heights. Just the feeling of not being on stable ground frightened me. There was no reason for a person to be so high up off the ground. Even if someone was on a boat, at least there was something beneath you to keep you steady, and a grand majority of people knew how to swim if they needed to. But if a Ferris wheel car were to fall off, if someone were high enough, the best case was that they’d only have a couple broken bones and perhaps a concussion. I had no idea where my fear of heights even came from. Rebecca suspected that I was just born with it, but it had to have developed elsewhere, right? Why was I thinking about heights when I was on something so far above the ground?

My reaction to it ending was to run to the nearest restroom to be sick. The kids could go wherever they wanted to; I wasn’t responsible for them. I didn’t get on the Ferris wheel for them; I got on so that poor Jerry could just keep doing his job. If Jerry had been a human, Timothy would have been just fine listening to him. But, no, it was because Jerry was an Android that Timothy got upset for no reason. The rule was in place for the safety of the visitors and the Jerrys. If Nolan and Christie had gone on alone, who knew what could have happened?

I stumbled out of the restroom after cleaning myself up best I could. Simon was outside waiting for me with his hands folded behind his back.

“Mercy, would you like to go home?” he asked.  
“N-No, it’s okay.” I inhaled sharply, trying to compose myself slightly. “We’re here for the Jerrys and we’ll leave when I know the Jerrys aren’t in any danger.”  
“Alright. You need to eat something, though there is nothing here that is good for you.”  
“I’ll be fine, Simon.”

Iris and Rebecca reappeared, but my mother scowled at the sight of Simon and sauntered off elsewhere.

“Where’s Nolan and Christie?” Rebecca inquired.  
“Somewhere between the giant skull and the Ferris wheel, is what I’m guessing,” I replied with a shrug.  
“What?” She looked at Simon. “You were supposed to keep an eye on them!”  
“You didn’t ask, Aunt Rebecca; plus, it’s not his job to look after your children. You should have brought your own Android.”  
“If it’s not _its_ job, then what _is its_ job?”  
“To care for my owner,” Simon answered.  
“Please, she’s barely an owner. Letting you walk around in clothes that should be on humans and referring to you as an _actual person_.”

I couldn’t raise my voice in public to tell her that she was out of line, but before I could say anything Nolan and Christie appeared, running to hug their mother. She patted them on their heads and then wandered off again...without them. Simon and I looked at each other before looking at the kids’ backs. They were running off to somewhere, but I didn’t care to ask. If they got kidnapped and hurt, it wasn’t going to be my responsibility. I wasn’t their mother and Simon wasn’t their Android.

“You shouldn’t get so upset with her,” Simon told me.  
“Just because I shouldn’t doesn’t mean I can’t and won’t,” I said sheepishly. “Listen, even if she and many other people see you only as a machine, I still l--” A wave of blood rushed up to my head and I momentarily saw black. “Simon?”  
“What is it?”  
“I... No, nothing. It’s fine...”

I shook my head to help me regain my vision. I’d run too fast and stood too fast and gotten too worked up in a short amount of time. My doctor was so adamant about me relaxing and taking it slowly. If I told her what had happened she’d be upset. Of course I would have rather been at home, but...

I heard Christie screaming and crying, meaning she wasn’t too far away. I wandered in the direction I heard her from and ended up finding her alone, Nolan nowhere to be seen. Those two were always together, so it was quite shocking to see them separated.

“Where’s your brother?” I demanded.  
“I dunno!” she sobbed. “I-I turned around and he was gone!”  
“Well, he couldn’t have gotten far. I’ll send a message to your mother to see if she can find Nolan.”

A Jerry wandered over, obviously having heard Christie’s screaming.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” he asked.  
“Her brother is...missing? I guess...” I replied.  
“Oh! We can help! What does he look like? Do you have a picture of him?”

I explained to him what Nolan looked like -- tiny kid, probably about nine or ten, shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, freckles crossing his face like Christie’s... I had no idea what he was wearing until Christie mentioned he was wearing a red long sleeve beneath overalls. Jerry’s LED was yellow throughout the whole conversation. I’d never really thought about how all the Jerrys of the park were a hive mind. That was incredibly useful and...perfect for situations such as this one. Whoever who had thought of that was a genius.

“We found him; he’s waiting with another Jerry by the cotton candy stand near the carousel,” Jerry said happily.  
“Th-Th-Thank you,” Christie sniffled.  
“Let’s go find your brother, I guess...” I muttered, taking her hand.

It wasn’t hard to find Nolan; his shirt was such a bright red and he was essentially yelling at the Jerry he was with about how cool it was that they could all talk to each other so easily. I thanked the Jerry and took Nolan’s hand. We went to find Rebecca, who was just wandering around the park not doing anything in particular. Timothy and Iris were with her, too.

“Here,” I said quietly. “Watch them so they don’t get separated again.”  
“Huh?” Rebecca stammered.  
“Christie and Nolan got separated. Christie freaked out and we went and found Nolan.”

I didn’t realize what Rebecca was doing until it was too late. She had clenched her hands into fists, raised one of them, and swiftly slapped Simon hard enough that she drew thirium. His LED turned red, Christie shrieked, Nolan hid behind Timothy, and it took me a moment to process what she had done. I shoved her backward into Iris, who held her steady.

“Did I really see what I thought I did?” I snapped.  
“Mom slapped Simon!” Christie shouted, looking up at Timothy.  
“I told you that _it_ should be watching them!” Rebecca barked.  
“_He’s_ not your Android,” I retorted, having to keep myself as calm as possible.  
“It’s _its_ job!”  
“No, it’s not.”  
“I know you probably think it’s cute and quirky to think of an Android as a living being, but it’s not! It won’t ever be a living thing! It’s a big thing of plastic! That’s it! You might think it’s okay to love a thing like that, but it won’t ever love you back!”

I smacked her. The only times I ever got physical was when an Android was involved. But I didn’t like slapping Rebecca. It didn’t even make me feel better and I knew as soon as I did it, I shouldn’t have done it. Timothy, Iris, and Rebecca looked at me in shock.

“Christie, Nolan...we’re leaving,” Rebecca said, her voice slightly strained.

The kids followed after their mother and Simon and I were left alone with my parents. They still looked taken aback by what I had done. Inhaling shakily, I turned on my heel and took Simon elsewhere to clean up the blue blood from his face.

“I’m all right,” he reassured me as I cleaned him up.  
I sniffled. “Are you sure?”  
“My systems are okay. It was a slap; nothing more. What about you? Will you be all right?”  
“Uh-huh. It’s just that...fighting and arguing doesn’t really get anything done, and violence isn’t the best way to finish things. I guess we can go home now.”  
***

_A few days later_

“Mercy, are you well enough to get out of bed today?” Simon asked.  
“No...” I moaned, stuffing my face into the pillow. “I’m so sorry.”  
“You haven’t been the same since your aunt yelled at you. Should I take you to the doctor, or the hospital?”  
“Whatever this is should pass eventually. I’m sorry for making you do everything. I didn’t want this.”  
“It’s okay, Mercy. You should get some more rest and I will come check on you in a little while.”

I felt like such a failure. I was stuck in bed, barely able to move an inch, unable to help Simon with the chores, and I couldn’t go to school. Yes, there was some leeway, and my teacher’s were good about sending notes and assignments I had missed during the day. But I didn’t want to spend my time stuck in bed. I had still not told Simon what my doctor had told me all those months ago -- that whatever I had was killing me slowly. It had let up for a long time, but now it was coming back. To think that it would trigger just coming from an argument and a height rather than university. University didn’t stress me out since I enjoyed being in a school physically.

I’d been in bed since we had come home from Pirate’s Cove and it felt like my condition had just worsened as the minutes passed by. Simon was, of course, accommodating, coming to my bedside whenever I called for him or hugging me whenever I cried. My doctor was definitely going to have to know about what was happening. If I was the same the next day for my appointment, Simon was going to have to force me out of bed. My doctor might even just force me to go to the hospital if I was any worse.

I woke up a few hours later, my head hurting much less than before and having a slight amount of strength. With whatever strength I had, I got up and pulled my housecoat on. I rubbed my eyes as I wandered out of my bedroom, through the living room, and into the kitchen, albeit slowly. Simon was standing at the stove stirring something when I wandered in.

“I was about to check on you,” he told me. “How are you feeling?”  
“Tired...in pain...and weak...” I mumbled. “What are you cooking? It smells nice.”  
“I used the vegetables we harvested and your leftover chicken to make you soup.”

I’d asked for pasta the night before despite Simon severely advising against it and it had been too heavy for my body to handle when I was so ill; I’d ended up getting sick. Amidst the sickness, I cried and continually apologized. Simon being Simon he just kept insisting that it was okay. He held my hair back as I was sick like I had come home completely drunk and was only just feeling the affects of the alcohol. Simon was too good, even if it was in his programming to care for me.

I sat down at the kitchen table and opened my laptop to check if I’d received any emails from my professors. They had already sent me what I had missed. It was in my history teacher’s coding to do so, but my journalism professor didn’t have to. He’d once told me I seemed like his most promising student of the semester -- because even when I was ill, I still did amazing work.

“Here,” Simon said, placing a mug filled with soup next to my laptop.  
“Thank you,” I replied quietly, dragging the mug toward me.  
“It’s hot; be careful.”

He returned to the stove while I continued to scroll through my emails and slowly eat the soup. There was an email from Iris. Was she so busy she couldn’t even call me anymore? Or had she called me and I just hadn’t noticed?

“Simon?” I stammered.  
“Yes, Mercy?”  
“Has there been any missed calls from my mother?”  
“No, but she did send you an message earlier.”

There wasn’t much to see in the email. It was her usual complaining about Simon and how disobedient and what a horrible child I was. Nothing new. Nothing that hurt me anymore. Her opinion didn’t matter to me. Her campaign to run for the district wasn’t going so well, either; the media had caught wind that her daughter was an “Android-lover”. It was spat as an insult by most journalists and newspapers and bloggers. Her mood had been so much worse since her campaign was going down rather than up. The media called her a hypocrite and a liar. She tried to tell everyone that she didn’t support me, but she had tried to word it in a way that wouldn’t make her look like a terrible mother. Of course she blamed me for her campaign problems. Sure, I could have waited until moving out on my own to get an Android rather than begging her to allow one in the family home. But then I might not have gotten Simon. If anything...

...Simon was the only important one in my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

“You need to go,” Simon told me. “I’ll okay waiting here.”  
“If I knew that Androids weren’t allowed in, I wouldn’t have booked,” I replied. “That’s my fault; I should have asked. I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone, especially in Android parking.”  
“Your doctor wanted you to come for a reason, right?”

I looked at him with a worried look on my face. What if someone came along and hurt him and I wasn’t there to stop them? As a race, the humans took a step forward, but when something they didn’t like, didn’t understand, came along, they took three steps back. Androids shouldn’t have been abused the way they were. They didn’t ask to be created.

“I’ll...try to be as quick as I can,” I assured him.

I turned to walk into the building, stopping before opening the door. I turned to look at the Android parking for the special doctor’s office. It made me feel _gross_ seeing Simon waiting there and it was even worse with the other Android’s around. Still, I walked into the building to go see the doctor. It was a new doctor who had just moved his practice from Montana. According to his new website, he was a branch off of Cyberlife. He was working for Cyberlife, but wasn’t directly working _with_ them...whatever that meant. This guy, according to my usual doctor, was apparently my last chance before whatever it is I had killed me.

The waiting room inside was empty, except for the receptionist who was sitting behind the desk. It made me feel more uneasy -- an empty doctor’s waiting room was never a good sign, right? Though, he was still new to the area, and he obviously wasn’t a typical doctor like my usual one.

“Are you Mercy Greene?” the receptionist asked.

It had been a long time since I had seen a human receptionist anywhere else other than my mother’s office building. I hesitantly nodded to answer her question, which prompted her to stand and lead me to a back room. It didn’t look like any doctor’s office I’d seen in my lifetime, but rather what a therapist’s office looked like in old films and television shows. Pristine, dark... If I didn’t know any better, I was about to get murdered.

“Miss Greene is here to see you, Dr Chase,” the receptionist announced before leaving.  
“Right on time,” the man known as “Chase” said.

He’d been sitting at his desk, his chair turned around so the back was to me. But now he turned around to look at me and I could that I wasn’t what he had been expecting.

“Your family doctor only gave me rough details about you, Miss Greene,” he explained. “Sorry for my reaction.”  
“Dr Young is good at explaining things like ailments, not people,” I replied.  
“I see, I see. Please, have a seat. I’m just going to tell you what I do and then I’m going to need you to answer some questions. Is that okay with you?”  
“Yes.”

Dr Chase told me about his practice back in Montana; what his specialty had been, what research he’d been allowed to do, and the research that had led Cyberlife to asking him to move his practice all the way to Detroit. He was going to continue his “usual” practice -- therapy -- and then do what Cyberlife asked of him on the side. Not many people were going to know of it. Only a select few doctors throughout Detroit -- including Dr Young, of course -- knew about what he was doing on the down low, and even fewer patients in Detroit would be allowed to be part of it, if they consented.

Most of the things that came out of Dr Chase’s mouth when talking about what we would be doing, if I consented, sounded like they were coming straight out of a science fiction novel. His phrasing was quite intelligent, and he apologized if he was making no sense to me, and he clearly knew what he was talking about. What he was proposing...what _Cyberlife_ was proposing...sounded incredibly intense in the long term. The patients who knew of what was happening, what would happen, ranged from the ages of eighteen to forty. It was theorized that it was going to be too strenuous on anyone older than forty. I was the youngest patient.

Then we got to the questions he needed to ask. He already explained that I was perfectly eligible for the tests that would be conducted with my consent; he just needed to know completely about the symptoms I held of the unknown disease. Dr Chase may have been a therapist, but he was a researcher first. He was intrigued by the symptoms. I had to agree that yes, they were interesting yet confusing. To have a disease just stop bothering me for a while and then flare back up after months of not showing itself.

“I know it sounds like a scary process,” he said gently. “If you need time to think about it, I understand.”  
  
I couldn’t deny that it did sound scary -- _horrifying_, actually. But if what he said was true, then I wanted to seize my chance for a better life. Even if I couldn’t make it through the whole process, if my disease took me before then, then I could still have just led a life longer than what was expected for me.

“Um... Give me until tomorrow afternoon to think it over,” I requested.  
“That’s not a problem, Miss Greene,” Dr Chase replied.

We bid our farewells and I left the office. Then there was the reason why I didn’t want to leave Simon alone in Android parking, or anywhere for that matter if it wasn’t my house or my car. The closest parking to Dr Chase’s office was three blocks away and I hadn’t known if I’d been able to make it on my own.

Simon and the other Androids who had been left in the parking meant for them were being yelled at. Their LEDs were red, but they couldn’t do anything for themselves. I recognized the boy yelling at them as one of the students from my history class. I sped walked toward Android parking and, when he decided to smack Simon, broke into a sprint and tackled him to at least get him away. I let him up only after making sure Simon and the other Android’s LEDs returned to blue. He’d been kicking and yelling at me to get off him.

“What the hell was that for?” he snapped.  
“What’s your problem?” I asked. “They’re just standing there -- they couldn’t have done anything wrong!”  
“Them existing is what’s the problem. Androids -- stealing my parents jobs, stealing other peoples jobs...”  
I looked at him like he was insane. “Are your parents caregivers? All these models are household Androids, genius!”  
“Oh, wait... You look familiar...” His face warped with disgust for a moment. “_Oh_. You’re the Android lover from history. For the record, _no_, my parents aren’t caregivers.”  
“It doesn’t matter, anyway! Blame your parents boss for firing them and replacing them with Androids.”  
“Nah.”  
“If you hate Androids so much, why are you even in history?”  
“Are you gonna fuck off now or are you gonna continue to be annoying?”  
“Leave my Android alone. Leave _everyone’s_ Androids alone.”  
“Oh, yeah? Which one is yours, then? I’ll bet it’s the prissy one I hit, huh? You gonna hit me back, Miss Prissy?”  
“So what if he’s mine? Go away.”  
“What are you gonna do? Cry to Mommy? Whatever. You’re annoying, anyway; I’m bored. See you in that fuckin’ Android’s class.”

I waited until he was completely gone before turning to the Androids. Some of their LEDs were yellow, now, but others stayed blue.

“Are you okay?” I asked.  
“I’m all right, Mercy,” Simon replied. “No need to worry.”  
“There’s so much to worry about. I had a feeling about leaving you at Android parking. Next time I’m risking a ticket.”  
“Are you okay? The last time you got so worked up...”  
“I feel sick, but...I couldn’t let that kid know. I’ve never really tackled anyone to the ground before.”  
***

After that kid and after going home and getting sick again, I didn’t really need to think it over. I notified Dr Chase and Dr Young that I was going to go through with the testing. Because of how traumatizing it may have turned out, I was going to be compensated throughout the whole thing. At least there was that incentive. The testing was so hushed because Cyberlife didn’t want the media to grab hold of it until everyone was sure it would work. The first step of part one was just psychological testing. It was a once a month thing, so I could concentrate on other things.

“Mercy, are you alright?” Simon asked one morning.

I was laying in bed with my hands pressed against my head. It felt like it was going to explode. I’d woken up so early in the morning and had already sobbed enough that I couldn’t cry anymore. I hadn’t bothered to wake Simon up from idling. But now I was thinking that perhaps that hadn’t been a good idea, that I should have asked Simon to drive me to the hospital.

“Your heart rate is faster than normal,” he noted. “Would you like to go to the hospital?”  
“I don’t know...” I complained.

I thought that maybe I was under so much stress; finals were coming up and even though I had finished my final paper for my journalism class, I was stressing about my history test. There was an option to get it done at a future time rather than the given time, but that required so much paperwork that I didn’t want my professor to have to deal with.

Simon left the room and returned with one of my thickest towels. He came over to the side of the bed I was on. I had no idea what he was thinking, but I sat up slowly -- and my nose began bleeding. He pressed the towel against my face. According to him, his scan of me had said that I had so much pressure built up in my head. Apparently when I had hit my head the day before getting out of my car did something. He had even asked if I wanted to go to the hospital then.

“I’ll run you a bath,” Simon told me once I was calming down. “That should help relax you.”  
“Th-Thank you,” I stammered.  
“Unless you would prefer to go to the hospital.”  
“I... Maybe that would be best...”

I got myself dressed and we left for the hospital. Clearly I wasn’t as important as some of the people actually sitting in the waiting room. All I had was a bad headache and a really bad nosebleed. I was surprised, though, to see so many people there with their Android’s. There were children, whose parents probably had to go to work rather than stay in a hospital, with their family’s Android. There were older people with their caregiver Android’s. There were even whole family’s and their Android’s.

There wasn’t as many human hospital staff, either. One human was a security guard and the other was an Android; the ones who did intake were Androids but had a human supervisor. I knew there were Androids who did surgeries, but not much else. I really would have rather been at school, but the knock I did on my head the day before had _clearly_ done something it wasn’t supposed to.

“We should have just gone to Dr Young,” I said quietly.  
“Would you like me to take you there?” Simon asked.  
“I mean...yes, but no... I just feel kind of ridiculous for coming to the hospital for a really bad headache and this awful nosebleed.”  
“The pressure in your head could be something else. Are you okay?”  
“I just... I don’t feel so good...”

Momentarily, I saw black. At least, that’s what I thought, anyway. It hadn’t been momentarily. I had blacked out for nearly an hour. When I woke up, I was laying in a hospital bed and Simon was holding ice to my head. According to him, I’d fallen and had hit my head, _again_. It was what made the hospital staff pay attention to me and get me in sooner. The human supervisor was speaking with the Android that had let me in. She turned to me.

“Good to see you’re awake,” she mused. “Would you like me to contact your family?”  
“No,” I mumbled.  
“Alright. Well, we’ve given your Android a prescription. It’s just so that the swelling in your head will lessen. It’s not so serious that you’ll have to get surgery. We’ve also tested some of your blood and you need to begin eating more iron enriched foods.”  
“What? But I-- Ow!”  
“You need to go home and get some rest.”

I walked slowly out of the hospital, holding the ice to my head. Probably the only reason I got attention at all after blacking out was because someone mentioned my last name. Human supervisors weren’t supposed to leave their post for anything, either, not unless it was an actual emergency.

“You have your next appointment with Dr Chase tomorrow,” Simon mentioned when we got to my car. “Do you think you will be able to go or should I reschedule?”  
“I’ll go,” I replied.  
***

It was a few weeks later when I came out of the journalism building in a daze. I wasn’t ill, but rather just...surprised. Simon cocked his head at me when I approached the car. He did a scan of me, but mentioned that nothing seemed to be wrong that I didn’t know of. I was clutching a newspaper to my chest -- holding onto it like my life depended on it. But I was scared of the thing. I was scared of what was in it.

My journalism professor hadn’t told me what he was going to do. When he told me what he had done and given me the newspaper, I had almost fainted from the shock. I hadn’t known how to feel -- I still didn’t know how to feel. There was a mixture of shock, fright, and confusion within me. I was shocked because what he had done had been so...unexpected. I was scared because it would definitely get back to Iris and Timothy. And I was so confused because... Well, who would want to publish something like that in a newspaper? I had the overwhelming feeling that I needed to cry. My family wasn’t going to react well to what was in there.

“Mercy?”

Amidst the feelings that I had, I also felt...proud of myself. My professor had told me that writing such a piece for my final was a risky move. I’d written something that no one else would _dare_ write. The class had to write a mock journal piece on a subject that we felt strongly on and I’d done just that. I’d gotten a perfect mark on it; it was sitting on my desk with a giant red “A+” on it, and a comment that said, “Haven’t read something this passionate in a long time.”

My professor had handed me the newspaper after telling me what he did and said, with a big smile on his face, “You’re gonna go far, kid.”

So now that I was standing in the snowfall with Simon, clutching the newspaper to my chest, I realized just how much of an opportunity push he’d given me. Even if the contents weren’t likeable to most people, the passion behind it was a kind to not be ignored. But I was so scared because of my family. I wasn’t scared that I may have gotten disowned; I wasn’t scared of getting yelled at; I was scared because it might give them more cause to want to harm Simon. And not just my family, but other people, too.

“Are you okay?” Simon wondered.  
“M-My paper...” I stuttered.  
“You got it back already, didn’t you?”  
“Have you read it yet? I said you could if you...wanted to... Oh.”  
“I haven’t. Why do you look so upset? Does your professor wish to remark it?”  
“No, no. He still loves my paper. It’s just...he...” I sighed, handing the folded newspaper to Simon. “My professor had it published...”  
Simon took it from me. “Isn’t it a good thing?”

I looked around, biting the inside of my cheek, to make sure that no one else was around.

“Um...it’s a good opportunity for me, it’s just...” I said, my voice shaking. “Simon, the contents... I’m so proud of it and I’m proud of myself, but there are people who will see it as something bad, and--and it might make people hurt Androids even more and it might make Mother and Father dislike that I have _you_ even more... I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”  
“What do you have to be sorry for?”  
“I don’t want you or any other Androids getting hurt. If _I_ get hurt, it’s a different story, but...” I sighed. “I’m just sorry.”  
“What was your paper about?”

I looked up at him. What was his reaction to it going to be? Would his LED not even change? Or would it change? And would it change to yellow or red? Certainly not red was what I was hoping. The first time I had wanted to tell him what it was I froze and told him to never mind; the second time I had wanted to tell him what it was I changed the subject; and now... Now I wasn’t so sure if I _should_ change the subject.

“An... Android’s Rights...” I mumbled.

I’d been so nervous about telling him that when I did, it seemed like all the sound in the world just went away and I couldn’t feel the wind or the snow on my cheeks. My awareness came back when his LED turned yellow. It stayed yellow for such a long time; did he not know how to process what I’d said correctly?

“Please don’t be broken,” I sniffled.  
His LED turned blue again. “I’m okay. That subject will garner you negative attention, but if you’re proud of it then that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”  
“What if you get hurt?”  
“I can’t get hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a long wait -- I knew what I wanted to do with this chapter; I just needed to get where I wanted to go! Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

“This was a bad idea,” I moaned. “This was a bad, bad idea...”  
“If it was a bad idea, then why did you agree to it?” Simon wondered.  
“I panicked and I didn’t think it was a bad idea at the time...”

After my paper had been published in the newspaper, I’d gotten an email from someone at Channel 16 news asking me if I’d talk to someone. Not exactly realizing that they’d want to ask me for an interview, I’d given them my number and had a long conversation, _before_ being asked if I’d actually go into the station for a live interview. That was when I had actually panicked and said “yes” without even thinking about it first. For the first few minutes after the call, I definitely thought it would be not a _good_ idea, but most certainly not a _bad_ idea.

Of course, now that I was in the middle of trying clothes on for my interview, I was horrified. Normally I loved clothes shopping, but it was definitely stressful this time around. I had never looked good in “business” attire, but the woman I had spoken to had explicitly stated that I’d have to wear a suit or a business appropriate dress. All the dresses I owned weren’t anywhere near business appropriate and I hadn’t worn those in a long time -- they probably didn’t even fit. I’d gone to the boutique that Iris went to for her dresses and suits. It was the wrong place to have a breakdown, but I definitely was going to have one.

“Would you like me to cancel for you?” Simon inquired.  
“No!” I gasped. “No, no. I can’t do that. That would ruin my reputation before I even have one, but I want to have a good one so I can use it to _do good_.”  
“What do you mean by that?”  
I opened the curtain, pulling the skirt of the dress I was trying on down so it wasn’t too wrinkly. “My mother is still trying to run to be the district planner. Get rid of all the Androids, make the area and shops within it ban Androids from even walking through it. Even if I’m only going to be a journalist, I can hopefully make even better decisions on paper than my mother. I’m...not explaining myself very well.”  
“Don’t most humans in your mother’s position make promises like that?” Simon did up the zipper for me. “They never go through with it.”  
“Trust me; Mother will go through with it. Even before she was able to run for the district office, she always said that she’d do this, she’d do that... Everything she says she will do, she will do. She doesn’t want to make the world a better place. Humans like her are so far off that humans like me would never be able to change their mind.”

I sighed, smoothing out the front of the dress and the skirt. Even if I didn’t look anything like Iris, I looked _too _much like her in it. I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up going through her closet and finding the exact same dress.

“I don’t expect anyone to understand, Simon,” I mentioned. “My professor doesn’t even understand; he just apparently realizes a good paper when he sees one.”

Most people didn’t understand. My classmates most certainly didn’t understand. That boy who I had tackled had caught up with me one day while I was walking to my car and had gone and knocked me right into a snow bank. Luckily the snow was soft and I didn’t get hurt. He and his friends always used “Android-lover” when talking to me or about me, rather than Miss Prissy. “Miss Prissy” was on reserve for when he managed to be by himself. All he and his friends did was barely pass assignments and get drunk all the time. As for the other students... Well, they wouldn’t even _consider_ lending me their notes if I missed something. Simon and I had to start packing my lunches because the university cafeteria workers, who were human, wouldn’t even let me enter the building. Since my paper being published, I’d had to go to Timothy’s office three times to sign papers against him because he’d gone and hurt Ralph again. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just fire him; they’d blocked him off from travelling for six months, but what would that do? No, I _did_ understand, actually -- Timothy was their top employee.

“Mercy, are you all right?” Simon asked.

I jumped, having spaced out. My eyes had welled up with tears while I had been thinking and I hadn’t even noticed. I shook my head.

“I’m okay,” I replied. “Um, I don’t think this is a good one.”

Simon undid the zipper for me and I went back into the change room, shutting the curtain behind me. Pulling the dress over my head, I realized I was in trouble. Tugging didn’t help and I couldn’t put the dress back on, either. Getting stuck in clothes in a nice shop wasn’t a scenario I ever wanted to be in.

“Um...” I mumbled. “Simon?”  
“Yes, Mercy?”  
“I think, um...I think I need help... I’m stuck.”

Simon stepped into the dressing room and easily managed to get me out of the dress. The zipper had gotten stuck on my necklace and the collar decided it was suddenly too small for my shoulders. He finished helping me out of it.

“Thank you,” I said quietly, feeling my face become hot. “Um.”

I was mumbling much more than I usually did. Simon had seen me in just my undergarments before, but it didn’t get easier. He didn’t even mind, but I didn’t think his programming was able to fully understand why a human would be uncomfortable in that kind of scenario.

“Thankyoulastdresspleasegetout,” I said quickly.

He stepped back outside and I turned toward the last dress I had to try on. The interview was the next day and the stores and other boutiques would be closing soon. It wasn’t that I was picky; it was just that everything I put on I either didn’t feel right or I looked too much like Iris. I slipped the dress on and stepped out so Simon could do up the zipper for me.

“Well, this dress is...decent...” I sighed when I looked in the mirror. “Mm... Oh, my gosh!” I added when I looked at the price tag.  
“What is it?” Simon looked at the tag, his LED turning yellow.  
“If I was going to wear this often, I wouldn’t mind paying that much. But...” I chuckled nervously, “for a one time thing or--or a very occasional thing...”  
“I’ll find you another dress.”  
“No! No, no, it’s okay. Please don’t. This... I’ll deal with this one. Thank you for helping me, Simon.”  
***

“Simon!” I shouted. “Simon!”

Simon walked out of the basement carrying mason jars. He didn’t even get to set them down -- I grabbed them from him and put them on the counter. I took his hand, leading him into the back where my bedroom was.

“Mercy, your heart--” he began.  
“My mother and father are outside and they don’t look happy,” I stammered, wiping the tears away from my cheeks. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do but we have to leave.”

After my interview, I had turned on my phone to see missed calls, emails, and texts from my family, and they just kept coming. Iris and Timothy were furious -- more furious than about my paper. Upon arriving home, I’d barely managed to calm my nerves from the interview when I saw both of their cars pull into my driveway. My car was luckily in the shop being repaired, so they probably didn’t even think I was home yet.

I handed Simon his jacket and scarf before putting my own back on. Simon and I never even took off our shoes in the house, either, so that was one thing we didn’t have to waste time on. I shut my door, locked it, and opened the bedroom window that faced the woods.

“You go first,” I urged.

I knew I wasn’t giving Simon enough time to fully process what I was freaking out about, but he climbed out the window regardless. The drop wasn’t even that far, considering the house was one level. After tossing out my laptop in its bag, I went through and almost landed on my face in the snow. Simon shut the window and I immediately grabbed his hand and took off into the woods. I’d gone into the woods a few times during the summer -- it wasn’t too big and it let out at a quiet highway on the other side. Just a few miles up the highway led back into the city. I didn’t stop running until it felt like my lungs were going to explode. By that time, we were almost out of the forest.

“I’m sorry,” I panted, letting Simon’s hand go.  
“Are you okay?” he inquired.  
“No... I mean...yes, but no...”  
“I can carry you, if you need me to.”  
“No, no... I can wal--”

I yelped as I tripped over a hidden log. Now that Simon was out of any immediate danger, I wasn’t paying attention to what was on the ground. He helped me back up to my feet.

“Will we be returning?” He looked back into the forest.  
“In a few days,” I huffed. “Maybe my parents will be calmed down by then. For now, we just need to go to that hotel that allows Androids...”

My phone had no service. Of course it wouldn’t; we were in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s a few miles away,” Simon told me. “Will you be able to make it on foot?”  
“I think s--”

I tripped over another hidden log and he helped me up again.

“Okay, no more talking until we’re out of the forest,” I told myself.

I took Simon’s hand again and walked with him toward the highway. Since it was winter, it was even quieter. The only people that came through the highway were truck drivers, people just passing through Detroit, or the people who lived in the area. It wasn’t too far up the road did I begin to feel my hands getting cold. I was never outside for too long in the winter to allow myself to become so cold it hurt. Dr Young had told me early on when I began seeing her that being out in extreme heat or cold weather too long would be too harsh for my health.

_Don’t black out,_ I thought. _Don’t black out._

But it wasn’t too long until my fingers were so cold I was in pain.

“Mercy, what’s wrong?” Simon asked when I whimpered.  
“It’s nothing...” I mumbled.  
“You’re freezing.”

He stopped walking, forcing me to stop, and looked around. Downtown Detroit was visible, but still at least a thirty minute walk. The highway wasn’t like a normal street; there were no empty taxis driving around to wave down.

“Simon, I’m okay...” I continued to mumble.  
“But your temperature--”  
“Really, it’s fine...”

Simon listened to me and we kept walking. As much as my hands were cold and in pain, as much as my feet were going to be in pain, it would have been worse to stop walking altogether. It took a long time to reach the hotel, of course, that by the time we did arrive I had to lean on the front desk to be able to talk to the Android. I could barely bend my fingers to hold the pen to sign anything, and I was so completely out of it that I almost forgot to ask to be listed as invisible. In the room, I kicked my boots off and threw my jacket onto the floor before sitting on the couch and pulling the blanket it came with around me.

Simon turned up the heat of the room and turned to me. “Mercy?”  
“I knew it would make them angry, but not _that_ angry,” I admitted.  
“They were going to yell at you, weren’t they?”  
“Father sent a message telling me that he was going to teach us a lesson. I didn’t understand what he meant until...until...”  
“What is it?”  
“He brought his shotgun. I’m really not sure what Mother was going to do, but...she was going to do _something_. I know that they’re going to check here -- or try to. There’s nowhere else to really check.” I suddenly cringed.  
“Are you all right?”  
“Simon, your tracker. Your tracker!”

His LED was yellow; it seemed like he wasn’t understanding. Did Androids not realize they had trackers? The whole time we were running from Iris and Timothy, I hadn’t had the nerve to think about it. The only thing I wanted to do during the whole thing was make sure Simon was going to be safe. I wanted to get him to safety, at least, but--

“My tracker?” he wondered.  
“I really wanna think we’re okay here; it’ll say _where_ we are and not the room number, but what about the Androids in the lobby with their family? An-And the Androids who work the front desk?” I burst out crying. “Simon, I dunno what to do!”  
  
He probably had no idea what to do, either. What would have been in his coding to protect his owner had probably been carried out by me. I’d done what he was supposed to have done in the event that _my_ life was in danger or something bad happened. It wasn’t like there was anyone else to tell him what to do. I sat on the couch, sobbing uncontrollably for almost twenty minutes until a thought came to me.

The shotgun hadn’t been for Simon; it had been for me. Both Iris and Timothy had gone to my house with the intent of obviously teaching us a lesson. But Timothy would have used the shotgun to keep me from moving while Iris took Simon out of the house.

To be returned to Cyberlife to be reset.

“S-Simon...” I stammered.  
“You’re pale,” Simon told me. “You should get some rest.”

Timothy and Iris could _still_ do that. I pulled out my laptop to check his tracker. Sure enough, there was a blip on my screen with the location of Simon. My parents didn’t have his tracker or serial, but they did have the date I got him and they _did_ know his name. Even if they didn’t have the numbers that could easily identify him, I was sure it was possible to go to a Cyberlife store and have the human employee there put in the date I got him, the name I gave him, and my name, so they could get his tracking number. Then I also thought that maybe they would deny them considering that they weren’t the ones who got him. Would the store also require identification for such access?

There was a loud knock on the door, causing me to jump. I took Simon into the bedroom and shut the door when I went back out into the living room. When I looked through the peephole of the door, I realized it was two cops and my parents. I knew I had to open up for police officers, but I really didn’t want to. Still, I wiped my eyes and my cheeks before opening the door.

“Miss Greene?” one of the cops asked.  
“M-Mercy, please,” I replied, my voice shaky.  
“Where’s your Android?”

I blinked up at her. Did I _have_ to answer that?

“_Ma’am,_” she said, her voice harsh, “_where-is-your-an-droid?_”

Because I didn’t answer her, she was going to speak to me as if I didn’t understand her?

“Tina, calm down,” her partner requested. “Mercy, you need to tell us where your Android is.”

I didn’t want to ever deal with cops. It wasn’t that I _hated_ them; they were necessary to keep crime low and keep the streets safe. It’s just that they made me nervous. Not many of them were fans of Androids, either.

“Step aside,” Tina demanded.  
“W-Wait,” I sniffled. “Why do you need him?”  
She and her partner exchanged glances. “Uh, come again?”  
“Your parents are just concerned that...” her partner began.

I stopped listening to him, letting his voice drop into the background noise. Iris had an incredibly smug look on her face; Timothy still looked extremely angry.

“...programming.”  
I looked Tina’s partner. “What about his programming?”

Tina pressed the door open just so it was right against the wall on the other side. Her partner went ahead and looked around the living room, the closet, and the bathroom, before going into the bedroom. It wasn’t even a few seconds before Simon was being pulled out. His LED was yellow.

“We’re going to have to return it to Cyberlife,” Tina explained.  
“What?” I gasped. “No! You can’t do that! Please--”  
“Hey, weren’t you the one who was on the news this morning?” her partner asked.  
“Yes! And I explicitly stated why I even have an Android!”  
“Ma’am, I need you to _calm down_,” Tina requested.

One of her hands had been resting on her gun holster the whole time.

“You wrote that article, too,” the partner continued. “Good work.”  
“Even if Androids don’t have rights _now_ doesn’t mean _I_ don’t still have them,” I sobbed. “Please don’t take him from me.”  
Tina sighed. “Alright. Miss? Ma’am? If you can provide documentation that you need it--”

As soon as she said “documentation”, I grabbed my laptop bag and pulled out all of my documents that Dr Young had given to me. I handed them to Tina, who took one look at how thick the stack was before handing them to her partner. Her partner let Simon go to flip through some pages before handing them back to me. Iris and Timothy looked shocked when Tina and her partner nodded at each other.

“Sorry to bother you, ma’am.” Tina nodded at me as her partner passed her into the hallway. “Get well soon.”  
“You’re both monsters!” I snapped at Timothy and Iris, slamming the door shut.

I had no idea what they told Tina and her partner; I had barely heard anything when they explained what was going on. Did they think that having Simon around was influencing how I saw Androids? I saw Androids the same way as I saw them before I even considered getting myself one.

“Would you like a hug?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

“Simon? Simon... Simon!”

I’d woken up in pitch black darkness, the memory of Iris and Timothy still so fresh in my mind. I was trying my best to try and not think about it, but I just couldn’t bring myself to completely forget it. I didn’t want to return to my house, not so soon, and so I’d gone and extended the stay at the hotel for two weeks. It was nearing the end of the third week and I was contemplating extending it for even longer. The room was smaller than a whole house and I could keep my eyes on Simon much easier than if we were at home. But waking up in complete darkness after a nightmare and I couldn’t see him made me panic.

Simon switched on the small light in the doorway of the bedroom. He was holding one of my shirts -- I didn’t know what time it was, but I vaguely remembered Simon saying something about doing laundry. Of course he wouldn’t do it in the bedroom while I was trying to sleep and now I felt like a fool for bothering him.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.  
“Y-Yes, I’m sorry,” I huffed. “It’s just that I didn’t...know where you were and...I got kind of scared...”  
“There’s still a lot of time until you need to be up for school. You need your rest, Mercy.”  
“What time is it?”  
“Three AM.”

I nodded and laid back down. There was the itch to ask Simon to stay in the room, at least until I fell back to sleep, but I really didn’t want to bother him with it. I was old enough to get over nightmares on my own, as my parents had once scolded me. But it was them that caused most of my nightmares.

“Do you need anything else?” Simon inquired.  
“No,” I lied. “I’m sorry.”

He left the bedroom and I turned over onto my side to try and get back to sleep. I was exhausted and scared. Iris and Timothy hadn’t tried anything again -- they must have gotten a warning from Tina and her partner. I’d gotten messages and emails and phone calls from my parents, though. Of course, none of them had been apologetic. It was nearing Christmas time and they wanted to know if I’d be returning to the family home. Rebecca and her kids were going to be there for the holidays. Iris made sure that they would be bringing their own Android -- mostly because they didn’t want _me_ to cause any drama if I did end up going.

I couldn’t fall back to sleep. What happened to Androids who worked in the service industry during holidays? Did they get to go inside until the businesses reopened or did they just keep working? The family home was big, but with everyone in the house and during such a supposed excitable time it was going to be cramped. The extended family, other than Rebecca, would be coming in from out of town, too. They lived further away so we only ever saw them once a year, sometimes twice or thrice, but that was it. They all had Androids, too, and if they were bringing them, that was way too much.

Before I knew it, amidst my agonizing and thinking, it was time for me to get up and go to school. It was the last day before winter break. Was there even any point of going in? I rubbed my eyes and yawned, sitting up. Simon wandered in to draw the curtains. When the curtains were drawn, I couldn’t even see outside.

“No way you’re attempting to drive in that,” I told him.  
“Will you be alright staying here?” he replied.  
“If I miss anything, I’ll get the emails.”  
“Okay.” He turned to me. “Would you like me to get you breakfast?”

I had barely eaten anything the day before. It hadn’t been a good day; I’d spent most of it in bed with a horrible headache and several nosebleeds. Whatever I ate didn’t want to stay in my stomach.

“I’ll try to do better today,” I mumbled.  
“All right. I’ll be back soon.”

Simon left. While he was gone, I got up and wandered over to the window. The room I was given was high up, but not so high up the ground would be microscopic. With the snow coming down and the wind whipping already fallen snow around and the clouds and the grey appearance of outside, not even any cars, parked or driving, were visible. I didn’t want to imagine how cold it was outside.

I pressed my hands against the window and sighed. If there were any Androids outside, which I was sure there was, I hoped they were at least going to be okay. I knew under extreme circumstances their biocomponents could freeze. Hopefully it wasn’t _that_ extreme.

After a while, I wandered into the living room and sat at the dining table with my laptop. Sure enough, there was an email from the dean of the university saying that classes were cancelled for the day. I looked up when the door opened.

“Simon...what happened...?” I asked, confused.

He was covered in snow. Well, not _covered_. Dusted was probably the better term to use.

“The doors to outside opened as I passed by,” he explained, setting my plate next to my laptop.  
“Are you okay?”  
“Yes, Mercy.”

I got up from my chair and went over to the bathroom. It was only a few seconds before I returned with a towel. I got the snow off of Simon before all of it could melt, but the clothes he was wearing were wet.

“You should change,” I suggested.  
Simon took the towel from me. “Okay.”

I scrolled through the news while I ate. Most of it was about accidents that happened on the roads because of the storm. There really was nothing going on, it seemed. But it was still early in the day; something else probably would happen if the snow--

My laptop pinged with a news story. At first, I thought that perhaps it was just another weather story. But it was about Androids -- PL600s, to be more exact. Simon’s model. The sales for Cyberlife regarding those models had steadily been going down much more lately. It was strange. His model had been so popular -- what was happening?

“Mercy?”

I slammed my laptop shut.

“Is everything all right?” Simon asked.  
“Uh...yes?” I replied. “Maybe? I don’t really know.”

I didn’t need to worry about something happening to Simon just because the sales were going down. Right? But what was going to happen to the other PL600s in circulation? Hopefully not returned to Cyberlife. It wasn’t going to help to worry, but I was worried.

I sighed. “It’s okay,” I decided to say.

There was knocking on the door. That was Iris’ knock and it was frantic. Had she really been driving in such bad weather? I went and opened the door just so Simon wouldn’t have to. Iris was, head to toe, covered in melted snow and half-melted snow. I blinked at her, not knowing what to say. All I knew was that I was panicked.

“Please leave,” I told her.  
“What?” she snapped.  
“You need to leave.”

She ignored me. Rolling her eyes, she brushed passed me and went directly into the bathroom. I had no idea what she thought she was doing. The water for the shower began running. I shut the door and sat back down at my laptop. I’d lost my appetite, that was for sure.

“You’re shaking,” Simon mentioned.  
“She’s one of the last people I want to see right now,” I admitted.

I looked up at him and he looked back at me. I then got up, pulled my boots on, and opened the door. Simon probably didn’t know what I was doing, but he followed me regardless. The lobby of the hotel was empty, save for the Androids at the front desk and the human manager locking up the kitchen.

“Good morning, Miss Greene,” the Android I approached said. “What can I do for you?”  
“Can I get another room?” I asked. “Er, I’d like to keep the room I have now, too, but can I add another one to my account?”  
“Of course. What kind of room would you like added?”  
“The same kind as I have now, please.”  
“Okay. You’re ready to go. Here’s the key.”  
“Thank you.”

Simon followed me back up to our room, where Iris was just getting out of the bathroom. It seemed like she’d only gone in to warm up from the outside. As much as I wanted her gone, I didn’t want to be responsible should she get into an accident either going to her office or heading to the family home. I handed her the key to the second room.

“What’s this for?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“You can’t stay in this room,” I replied. “I got you your own. You’re welcome; now please leave.”  
“Are you fucking kidding me?”  
“_Mother_.”

She shook her head, picked up her bag, and left. I poked my head out the door to make sure she went into the room I’d gotten for her.

“Yelling at each other won’t solve anything,” I mumbled, turning to Simon.  
“You should try to finish your breakfast,” he told me.  
***

_Christmas Eve Day_

Simon and I stepped into the family home; I was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of people just sitting in the living room and Simon’s LED was yellow. There were cousins I hadn’t seen in forever, Iris’ sisters, Iris’ mother, Timothy’s father -- my good grandmother’s husband -- and all the Androids brought with them. Simon was the newest model in the place, so finding him should I get dragged away for something afterwards wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Mercy!” Christie called as she ran down the stairs.

Nolan was behind her and they were both bounding in my direction. There wasn’t really anywhere for Simon and I to turn to; I was almost forced to stand there while they both ran at me and threw their arms around me. Upon hearing their excitement to see me, some of the extended family turned to look at me. Had Timothy and Iris sent them my paper? They must have. None of the ones who looked at me seemed happy at all to see me. Most of the family hadn’t accepted me as theirs when I was brought home as a kid anyway; the paper probably just made them feel their rejection was justified.

“Mercy, Mercy, we brought our Android this time!” Nolan told me while Christie wandered off.

Christie returned with an AX400; one of the black females that guy Thompson had tried to get me to buy.

“Her name is Lisa!” Christie said.  
“Hello.” Lisa extended her hand for me to shake.

Without even thinking about it, I shook her hand. The room went completely silent; I could swear I heard a pin drop on the kitchen floor.

“Whoa, I can’t believe she did it!” one of my other kid cousins shouted.  
“Lisa!” Rebecca shouted. “Get back to the wall!”

Lisa’s LED turned yellow and she did as she was told. I stepped further into the house and realized that all the Androids had been told to stay against the wall. There was a few helping out in the kitchen, but the majority were in the living room. I wanted to slink back to my car with Simon and return to the hotel, but if there was something I did wanted to see, it was my grandfather. I couldn’t understand how someone like my grandparents, who were tough but kind, could raise Timothy to be...well, _Timothy_.

“Has anyone seen my mother?” I asked.  
“She’s in the cellar,” Rebecca replied, turning back to my Aunt Grace.

The family home’s cellar wasn’t a basement cellar like mine was -- it was a _wine_ cellar. Of course Iris would be hiding out down there. It was cold and there was wine if she got overwhelmed with all the Androids being in her immediate vicinity.

“Mercy, dear...”

My grandfather had hobbled his way over. After my grandmother had died, he’d moved in with Timothy’s brother and his family. They weren’t around; they must have sent him on his own. I was fine with that since he was the nicest human in the room.

“Hey...” I murmured, giving him a hug. “Simon, this is my grandfather; Grandfather, this is Simon.”  
“I hope you’re treating my little Mercy okay.”  
Simon’s LED turned yellow. “Of course.”  
“Um... Um...” I stammered, my face hot. “Simon is my Android...”  
Grandfather’s eyes widened. “Oh! My mistake... I haven’t seen this model before. Why don’t we find a quiet spot and have a nice chat?”  
“Sure. Simon can come?”  
“Of course, dear.”

We went into the back room; it used to be my play room, but it had been turned into something like a meeting room. Iris and Timothy had had a few of their meetings there; I never realized just how quiet it was until Simon shut the door behind us.

“I read your paper,” Grandfather said when we sat down. “Good work.”  
“Thank you...” I mumbled. “You could imagine that Mother and Father weren’t happy about it... Most people weren’t.”  
“If it means anything, dear, I would rather you be controversial than go along with what opinion is popular.”  
“Did... Did you hear that I was on the news?”  
“No! No, I didn’t.”  
“The paper is what got me on there. Uh, the things we talked about there kind of...really made Mother and Father even angrier than I had ever seen them...”  
“Is it okay if I ask?”  
“Let me just say that the police were involved. Ah, no one got hurt.”  
“And your Android?”

I looked at Simon, who looked back at me. After a moment, I looked back at Grandfather.

“When I say ‘no one’ I also mean Simon,” I told him. “How much do you remember from my paper?”  
“Quite a bit. Some things are lost on me, though.”  
“Simon may be made of plastic, but he’s still a person. That’s not the exact thing I wrote; I generalized in my paper. But, no, no one got hurt. I didn’t and neither did Simon.”  
Grandfather looked up at Simon. “Did you get hurt?”  
“No,” Simon replied. “I can’t get--”

A crash outside interrupted him. Grandfather and I looked at each other for a few seconds, confused. Rebecca was yelling about something. I got up and went out into the living room. The first thing I saw was Lisa; she had blue blood leaking from her head. The second thing I saw was the glass coffee table, all smashed to bits. Then the third thing was Grace, looking furious.

“I told you not to get in the way!” Rebecca shouted at Lisa.

From the things that she and Grace were screaming at Lisa, I discovered that Lisa had simply looked in the direction of the two of them. Rebecca must have said something that caught her attention. Grace hadn’t liked that and, instead of behaving like a rational adult, shoved Lisa right into the glass table. Now Rebecca was shouting at Lisa to clean up the glass so the kids wouldn’t hurt themselves. Lisa wasn’t budging, though; her LED was blinking red rather than it being a perfect spin.

Before Grace or Rebecca could get another word in, I stepped over the glass and took Lisa’s hand. I waited for Lisa to start moving first, before leading her into the back room where Grandfather and Simon were waiting. Seeing someone -- seeing a _human_ \-- treat an Android nicely made my family keep quiet. They were awestruck for the wrong reasons.

“Oh, my goodness,” Grandfather grumbled as I sat Lisa down.

Lisa blinked, looking around. I grabbed my handkerchief out of my jacket and proceeded to clean the blue blood off of her face. It took a while for her LED to even change to yellow. While I was still cleaning her up, Christie and Nolan came in, albeit shyly.

“What do you two want?” I asked. “You can’t climb on Simon and I’m not letting you climb on Lisa.”  
“We don’t know why Mom treats Lisa so badly,” Christie said, her voice cracking.  
“Most people don’t treat their Androids kindly,” Nolan sniffled. “Why?”  
“Because most people don’t like anything that is seen as ‘different’,” I replied, finishing up on Lisa’s cheeks. “Most of our family doesn’t accept me because I’m adopted and I treat Androids how they should be treated.”  
“We treated those pirates really bad...”  
“You mean the Jerrys at Pirate’s Cove?”  
Rebecca opened the door to the room, looking extremely angry. “Give me the friggin’ Android back.”  
“Mom, Mercy is trying to clean Lisa! Leave her alone!” Christie snapped.  
“Be lucky you still even _have_ an Android, Christie. Dad, are you coming back out?”  
“Not right now, Becky,” Grandfather replied.  
“Well, tell Mercy to either give me the Android back or I’m gonna make her Android clean up the mess.”  
“You’re not making Simon do anything,” I immediately snapped.  
“Leave Mercy alone!” Nolan shouted, kicking Rebecca in the shin and then running out.

Rebecca swore and then chased after Nolan.

“There are places for humans to go if they feel unsafe or are in danger,” I sighed, finishing cleaning Lisa up. “I just wish there was a place like that for Androids.”

It was only a few seconds between saying that and my having a thought. I kept it to myself, for the moment, while I checked to make sure Lisa was okay to go back outside. It didn’t take me long to change my mind; there was no way I could send her back out into the living room. She’d been so close to self destructing -- if something else happened in a short amount of time, she most certainly would self destruct.

“Christie, I need your help with something,” I requested.  
“What is it?” Christie mumbled.  
“Can Lisa stay in here? She should be safe, don’t you think?”  
“Yes!” She walked up to Lisa and looked up at her. “You stay in here.”  
“Of course, Christie,” Lisa replied.  
“Oh! And if Mom comes in here and tells you to go out, don’t listen!”  
“Yes, Christie.”

Simon, Grandfather, and I went back out to the living room; one of the other Androids had already begun cleaning up the glass. I got down on the ground with him and helped him out. It wouldn’t have taken him long to do it himself, but I didn’t want anyone, human or Android, get glass caught in their shoes or get cut.

“Oh, my God, Mercy, get off the floor,” Iris complained. “Why the hell is there blue shit in my carpet?”  
“Aunt Grace pushed Lisa into the table,” I replied.  
“Who’s Lisa?”  
“Aunt Rebecca’s Android.”

The Android who I was on the floor with got up to dispose of the glass he had collected. I followed him while Iris proceeded to scold Grace.

“What model are you?” I wondered.  
“I’m an HK400 Android,” he replied.  
“I don’t think I’m familiar with your model.”  
“I do the housekeeping.”  
“Who are you with?”  
“Grace is my owner.”

It didn’t take long for Grace to wander over after noticing I was talking to her Android. If she was really out pushing other people’s Androids into things, how did she treat her own? I frowned when she stepped between us.

“Devon, go clean up the blue blood from the carpet,” she ordered.  
“Right away.”  
She took a small step back, along with a long sip of wine. “So...a PL600, huh? They aren’t doing so well these days.”  
“And?” I shot back.  
“You sure favour the unpopular, don’t you? Sure, that model was popular when he first came out, but now...” She sucked on her teeth. “Get yourself a new Android. I heard those AX400s are still going strong.”  
“Don’t... Don’t those models work best with children?”  
“Yes. Exactly! If you keep rebelling like a child...”  
“When is this family going to see that I’m not rebelling?” I rolled my eyes. “I can’t replace Simon.”  
“Why not?”  
“That’s...none of your business.”

Rebecca stormed over to us. When Grace saw how angry she was, she walked off.

“Where’s my Android?” Rebecca asked.  
“You look like you’re going to kill her,” I replied.  
She clapped her hands directly in front of my face. In between each clap, she said, “Androids can’t get hurt and they can’t die. Its still in that room, isn’t it?”

Before I could say anything, she stormed toward the meeting room. I couldn’t follow her; Timothy had grabbed my arm. He hadn’t been around and all of a sudden he was? I was fine seeing my mother since she hadn’t caused any drama between us at the hotel. But it was the first time I’d seen Timothy since calling him a monster and I was horrified to see him.

“You’d better keep an eye on that goddamn Android of yours tonight,” he snarled. “Who knows what will happen to it?”

He let me go and returned to my grandfather’s side. His grip had been so tight on my arm that it hurt even worse when he’d let go. I ignored the pain and instead looked around. Amidst the cluster of humans around, I saw Christie and Nolan hugging Simon. Upon walking up to them, I heard them apologizing to him for climbing on him and apologizing for that slap Rebecca had given him at Pirate’s Cove.

“Mercy, are you all right?” he asked.  
“I need quiet,” I admitted. “Can you please come with me?”

Christie and Nolan ran off to play, and I took Simon upstairs to my old bedroom. It wasn’t completely empty; my desk and chairs were still there. I sat at the desk with a sigh.

“Simon, do I treat you okay?” I inquired.  
“Yes, Mercy.”  
“If I don’t, you can tell me. Will you tell me?”  
“You treat me well. You treat all Androids well.”  
“Sometimes I think I don’t. I bring you everywhere with me and that includes coming to a place where there’s so many humans who hate Androids.”  
“You also do need me to come with you, don’t you?”  
“I’m scared if I leave you alone and my parents find out, they’ll...do something to hurt you. Especially after my father decided it would be nice to bring his gun to our house.”  
“I can’t get hurt. You shouldn’t worry so much about me.”  
“But I do worry.” I sighed as I stood up. “Aunt Grace once told me just because her name is Grace doesn’t mean she has to be graceful; then proceeded to tell me that just because my name is Mercy I don’t have to be so merciful.” I looked at the time on my phone. “It feels like we just got here, but we’ve been here for so long.”  
“Would you like me to take you home now? Your heart rate hasn’t dropped back to its usual since we arrived.”  
“That’s probably best.”

Simon and I went back downstairs; just as we were about to head out the door, I heard Christie and Nolan screaming. They were screaming with words, but rather screaming because they were _scared_. No one paid them any attention; when I found them, I discovered why no one was paying attention to them. Rebecca had come out of the meeting room just as Simon and I had approached. The screaming had ended and the kids were a sobbing mess. I’d never seen or heard them scream so loud or cry so hard.

“Mercy, your heart,” Simon told me as I stepped further into the room.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I could see her from the doorway, but it didn’t completely dawn on me until I looked at her face. Lisa was on the floor; her LED was completely off, eyes wide open, and blue blood was pooled around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

“Mercy?” Simon knocked on the bedroom door before he entered. “Mercy, is everything all right?”

I had my blanket pulled right up passed my shoulders and I was staring out the window at the snow. Ever since Christmas Eve, I had been in bed. If I did get up, I didn’t go any further than the bathroom door. I barely even wanted to wake up in the mornings and I barely even ate. I hadn’t told Simon what was wrong even though he had been with me when I found Lisa. Grandfather had called to check up on me a few times, but no one else did. I had no idea what was going to happen with Christie and Nolan. If Rebecca was going to replace Lisa, I had to wonder how easily they would like the new Android or not.

“You need to eat something,” Simon urged.  
“Lisa...” I sniffled. “She didn’t deserve that... She didn’t do anything wrong... Would it still have happened if we weren’t there...? Would everything be okay if we had stayed here...?”

Simon switched on the light and dimmed it slightly before coming to the side of the bed I was on. Just so he wouldn’t have to help me up, I sat on the edge of the bed. He really needed me to eat something, otherwise I was going to be in danger of losing too much weight.

“No one _cared_, Simon,” I choked out. “Just Nolan, Christie, Grandfather, and me. Given the amount of humans in that house, no one cared.”  
“Androids are objects, Mercy. Nolan and Christie are children, so isn’t it more understandable that they’re upset about it? It was their caretaker.”  
“I’ve seen Androids smile. I’ve never seen you smile, but I’ve seen them smile. They can be happy. And they can look mad. So what if they’re made out of plastic? Don’t create something that looks and sounds like a human and then don’t treat it like a human if it makes you feel uncomfortable.”  
“‘You’?”  
“I’m generalizing, Simon.” I started sobbing. “Everyone is always talking about moving forward, but when it’s time to move forward they don’t want to. They’d rather take steps back. Androids deserve better than to be forced to take care of things humans can’t do or don’t want to do. But of course, I’m a hypocrite. I can’t completely care for myself or chores.”  
“You needed me, Mercy.”  
“I know, I just...I just wish you were here because you _want_ to be. Not because you _have_ to be.”

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him. He slowly returned my hug. There were certainly times when I wished I didn’t need Simon, but then thought of the kind of family he _could_ have gone and been with if I hadn’t chosen him. What if I hadn’t been picky with what Android I chose? What if I’d learned the hatred from my family? I couldn’t imagine life anymore without Simon being in it, but still... I had to wonder.

“I wish I could tell you what I wanted to, but I don’t think you would understand,” I admitted, looking up at him.  
“What do you mean, Mercy?” he replied. “You’re supposed to tell me things.”  
“It’s not a command, or a chore, or anything that is required.”

I let him go and stood up. It was going to be a supposed nice day out, albeit chilly and snowy, and so if Simon needed me to eat something, it was going to be at a diner. I showered and got dressed.

“Your mother called while you were in the bathroom,” Simon told me as we walked toward my car.  
“Did she leave a message?” I asked.  
“Yes. Three of them.”

I shook my head. No way was I falling for it. She wanted me to either go back to the family home or go to her work; I wasn’t going to do it no matter how hard she tried. If I wanted to see her or Timothy then I would seek them out on my own.

“I’m okay to drive,” I mentioned.  
Simon handed me my keys. “Okay.”

On the way to the diner, we passed the courthouses. It got me thinking, really; I stopped on the side of them. What I was going to do was going to really make Iris and Timothy angry, but I realized had to do it -- for Simon’s safety. If it weren’t for Simon I probably would have never even considered it.

“I’ll be back in five minutes,” I said before climbing out.

I then proceeded to slip on the ice right outside my car. I didn’t fall; I’d managed to grab hold of the top of my car. But every time I tried to even move, I would slip again. If I fell and hit my head, it was probably going to be another visit to the hospital. I really didn’t want to bother Simon, though. Inhaling sharply, I manoeuvred in a way that allowed me to walk on the crunchy snow. In the courthouses for family business, all I heard was arguments on phones, arguments in person, and children crying. What I was doing couldn’t be the worst thing to happen in a family, right? Still, I wandered up to the booth and requested whatever files I needed for what I needed to do. Back in the car, I shoved the papers into my glove compartment in front of Simon.

“Mercy, you’re shaking,” he noted.  
“I’m scared,” I admitted.  
“Would you like me to drive?”  
“No; it’s--it’s okay. How are the roads?”  
“Icier than usual.”  
“I’ll be careful.”

Before I could even begin driving toward the diner, the hotel called me to tell me that Iris was there waiting for me. She wasn’t going to go away until I talked to her about whatever she needed to talk to me about. And until I did show up, she would abuse the Androids working the front desk until I showed up. She would use my love for Androids against me to _make_ me talk to her. I was going to vomit from how nervous I was. I turned the car around and returned to the hotel. Sure enough, my mother was in the lobby, shouting at one of the Android receptionists to make sure I got back quickly.

“Mother,” I announced.  
“You certainly like to keep people waiting,” she snapped.  
“Okay.”

I took her up to my room, but I kept the door open so she would leave quicker after she said whatever she needed to say. Even though my stomach was hurting from needing to eat, even though I was going to vomit from nerves, even though I had a horrible headache, I was going to let her talk for however long she needed to talk for.

“Alright, Mercy,” she began with. “You need to stop acting like a child. You’re going to be nineteen soon, for God’s sake. The teenage rebelling needs to end; embarrassing your father and I needs to end; the silent treatment needs to end! Well, say something!”  
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I’m not rebelling,” I replied, matter-of-factly. “I told you ten months ago why I needed Simon, but as always you didn’t believe me. He’s never done anything to you.”  
“You _don’t_ need him!”  
“Mother, you were never home when I still lived with you. And now whenever I see you, it’s only because it’s a good day for me! You were never around for the nights I couldn’t sleep, or around for my doctor’s appointments, or the days when I was in so much pain I couldn’t move, or the days that had headaches so bad I couldn’t even listen to a kitten purr, or the days when my--”  
“Please, Mercy, stop making--”  
“I am dying, Mother!”

Iris took a step back, holding her hand out in front of her like she was offended. Even Simon’s LED turned yellow; he obviously knew that I wasn’t well, but I had never told him that I was slowly dying. Iris swallowed hard, appearing confused for a moment. But then she sighed and put her hand down.

“Now you’re just being over-dramatic,” she said.  
“Please leave,” I immediately requested. “Leave. I can’t deal with you anymore.”  
“‘Deal’ with me? Mercy, I am your mother!”  
My lower lip trembled. “Please leave before I call security.”

She shook her head and scowled before storming out of the room. Iris and Timothy hadn’t deserved to know that I was dying, but now I knew that Iris, at least, didn’t care or didn’t believe me, or both. It was completely ridiculous; the _family_ was completely ridiculous. I bit my lip, not wanting to begin wailing in front of Simon.

“Mercy?” he asked.  
I sniffled. “I’m going to go drive around for a bit. I... I need to be alone.”  
“All right. Be careful.”

I left Simon in the hotel room, closing the door behind me. Maybe driving around the city would help me clear my head, and I could cry without bothering Simon. I could wail freely in my car. It really was a nice winter day out; perhaps after I drove around I could wander around a park or sit somewhere and fill out the paperwork I needed to start on.

I passed by buildings that had Androids out front, shovelling snow so humans could walk around easier. Androids didn’t particularly _feel_ cold, but the cold did affect them in some ways in extreme cases. Ones that worked outside were dressed appropriately for the weather. At least they were allowed that rather than in the uniforms they originally came in.

I stopped in at Timothy’s building when I realized the snow wasn’t shovelled and their were no Androids outside. I requested to be seen by Benjamin to ask about it -- even if it was none of my business, I needed to check on Ralph.

“We had Ralph swapped out last week,” Benjamin informed me.  
“What?” I asked, feeling like the air got knocked out of my chest. “Why? Is everything okay?”  
“Yes, everything is fine. We got a rid of most of our Androids for insurance reasons; he’s at Monroe Plaza now.”

I let out a sigh of relief. At least he would be safe from Timothy whenever he went into the office; I just hoped no one thought to hurt him while he was at the park. The GPS on my phone said it wasn’t too far from where I was. Snow had started to fall more heavily, so I needed to be even more careful while driving. If it got too bad, I would leave my car parked and get a taxi instead.

Upon arriving at Monroe Plaza, I realized there were three WR600s. No one ever really talked about what it was like seeing multiple of the same Android with the same face in one area. It was a bit strange, but I thought of them as their own individuals. I just didn’t completely know which one was Ralph...until one of them turned around and his jacket switched from “Cyberlife” to his name.

“Ralph?” I mumbled as I wandered up to him.  
He looked in my direction. “Mercy.”

These models weren’t exactly meant to interact with humans. They could, but they weren’t as good with interacting as, say, AX400s. They were definitely harder to talk to than an Android that had social interacting as a necessity in their coding. Every time I tried to say “thank you” to the trash WR600 that collected the bins at my house, his LED would flash yellow, and he would look at me as if he had no idea what to say. I didn’t mind it -- it wasn’t his fault.

“You’re a gardener; what are you doing shovelling?” I asked.  
“The snow covering the soil is too much,” he explained. “It’s okay if there’s some snow covering it up, but if too much ice and water penetrate it, there will be too much moisture to plant in the spring.”  
“That’s... Oh. I didn’t realize. Nobody bothers you here, do they? Ah, aside from me.”  
“No. A human boy comes and sees me sometimes. He brings his dog.”  
“That sounds lovely. I just wanted to come check up on you, Ralph; I’ll let you get back to work.”  
“Mercy, will you come see me again, too?”  
“Of course.”

I waved at him as I wandered away. He wanted me to continue to check up on him. It must have interested him that people wanted to actually talk to him and not just...beat him up. Well, no, Androids didn’t have interests; that wasn’t the right word to use. How else was I meant to explain it? I had no idea. Still, I was just glad that he was away from Timothy; he was safe, and knowing that it made me feel warm.

I sat in my car and began to work on the papers. Iris was always using “I’m your mother” as an excuse to get me to talk to her or listen to her scream at me. She wouldn’t be able to use it for much longer, that was for sure. All the technical terms used in the paperwork eventually began to stress me out, which led to a headache. It was definitely time to return to the hotel, that was for certain.

As I was driving back, my hands began to feel numb. I moved them to the lower part of the steering wheel, though that did nothing for me. I couldn’t grip the wheel at all. But I was in the middle of the street and if I suddenly just stopped, I’d cause an accident. While I was looking for an area to try and pull into, I didn’t notice that my car was slowly drifting into oncoming traffic. I didn’t notice until I was T-boned by an old pickup truck, and by then it was too late to notice.  
***

Amidst the panicked shouts of the doctors, all I could think of was Simon. He was expecting me back at the hotel and he had no clue that I’d been in an accident. I didn’t care that my car was totalled; I didn’t care that my arm was broken; I didn’t care that I had some broken ribs, a concussion, and a bleeding head. I couldn’t breathe in deep enough to ask loud enough for someone, _anyone_, to go get Simon for me. One of the MC500 Androids who had found me went through my phone and told the doctors and nurses at the hospital Iris’ phone number. I wasn’t in the state to complain even if I wanted to.

The thing that really amazed the doctors and nurses was that I was still pretty conscious. Even if I wasn’t talking or screaming, I was aware of my surroundings and able to nod or shake my head if needed. What amazed them even more was that I wasn’t going to need surgery. Nothing punctured anything that was life threatening; I was going to need stitches and a cast, of course. I was most certainly going to have to stay off my feet for a while.

It wasn’t until a nurse gave me a needle in my arm to relax me did I scream, and that just made the pain worse. I ended up screaming for someone to go and get Simon, though in my irrational state I didn’t tell them where to find him. They had retrieved my bag from my car and found the key to my hotel room; I saw it and kept repeating Simon’s name over and over again until someone had the guts to ask me if that was where he was.

“We’ll get someone over there soon to get him for you,” she assured me. “For now, you need to--”  
“Now,” I wheezed. “Please...”

She went into the hall and I could hear her shouting for someone to go over to the hotel and get Simon for me. The other nurses were trying to get me to calm down long enough to be able to stitch my head up. I wouldn’t stop moving, though, and they had to give me another needle to calm me while they did their work. Apparently my mother was on her way to the hospital; she was the last person I wanted to see. Sure enough, she got to me before they could bring Simon. I didn’t say anything when she walked in, but when Timothy came in from paying to park the car, I screamed.

“What’s wrong with her?” Iris asked, sounding concerned about me for once in her life.  
“Sometimes after a traumatic accident, patients become irate,” one of the doctor’s replied.  
“She was fine when I walked--”  
“Get out!” I shouted, starting to sob. “Get out now!”  
“Mercy--” Timothy began to say.  
“Out!”  
“Okay, sir, you need to leave,” the doctor told him.

Timothy raised his hands like he was confused and defeated, leaving the room. Iris looked around nervously; she didn’t like hospitals and the fact there were so many Androids helping out made her even more uncomfortable and nervous. I didn’t yell at her to leave, but when she tried to hold my hand I pulled away from her.

“Ma’am, I need you to move, please,” the nurse who had gone into the hallway requested.

Iris moved out of the way and the nurse allowed Simon into the room. As soon as he saw me, his LED blinked red. The other nurses were just finishing up the stitches on my head when he entered.

“Mercy?”  
“I’m sorry,” I sniffled.  
“What happened?”  
“I lost the feeling in my hands and I think I drifted into the opposite direction’s lane. Sit with me, please.”

The nurses were prepping to put my arm in its cast, so there was enough room for him to move around to the other side of the bed to hold my hand that wasn’t going to be put in a cast. He grabbed the chair that was up against the wall and set it next to the bed. A doctor came in carrying my medical files.

“Miss Greene?” She looked at me, a surprised expression on her face. “You have quite the extensive file.”  
“I know...”  
“Chronic insomnia, headaches, nosebleeds, chronic weakness in your body, anemia, varying blood sugar levels...”

She continued to list off everything that was wrong with me while Iris looked at her in shock. It seemed like Iris was having a mental crisis; everything I had ever said was wrong with me and she chalked it up to lies and dramatics was really wrong with me.

“When did you get your Android?” the doctor asked when she was finished with the list.  
“It’s going to be a year, this coming February,” I replied.  
“You should have gotten one before that; why didn’t you?”

I looked at Iris, and then so did the doctor. She looked away, ashamed.

“Ma’am, your daughter is dying and you refused her an Android?” the doctor asked.  
“To be fair, she didn’t ask for one until then,” Iris muttered back.  
“Because you and Father hate Androids,” I interjected. “I had to wait until it got too bad to do everything on my own in order to ask, and even then you put up a fight.” I looked at the doctor. “She’s never believed me that I’m so ill.”  
“Unbelievable.” The doctor rolled her eyes and waved Iris off. “You’re going to be here for at least two weeks. I’m afraid with your current illness, it’s in poor taste if we released you with the condition of your arm and ribs. Rest up.”

Iris sighed, defeated, and sat in the chair that was in the corner of the room. I looked at Simon; his LED was still red, though it wasn’t flashing anymore.

“I was going to stop in the middle of the road,” I told him. “But then I would have caused a bigger accident. I shouldn’t have gone on my own.”  
“Would you like me to drive from now on?” he inquired.  
“No, but...”  
“It’s okay, Mercy.”

I heard Timothy and the doctor outside, who I thought I heard say it should be fine to come into the room. That was exactly what was said. Timothy was barely in the room before I began screaming and crying again, even worse than before. Simon held my hand harder as I was given a needle that would force me to sleep.

“I don’t... I don’t want him...” I huffed. “He can’t...”  
“Just get some rest,” the doctor told me, sounding slightly distorted. “You’ll feel better soon.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

Timothy kept trying to come into the hospital room, but each time I did I had to yell at him to get out. Of course he was confused as to why Iris was allowed in the room and not him. No one was going to say anything. I didn’t want to deal with my family’s backlash should I say that he brought a shotgun to my house; Iris wasn’t going to implicate him herself; and Simon couldn’t say anything because I didn’t ask him if he could tell someone about it.

The guy who I had caused to hit me had been fine. He’d luckily only walked away with some minor cuts. I didn’t want to know who he was; I just wanted to make sure that I hadn’t killed someone. I was expecting to be sued since I could have killed him. According to Iris he had tried to sue me but she had made herself known as my mother. I didn’t know why she would have done that, but I thanked her even if I still didn’t want her around.

“Can I leave yet?” I asked. “School is starting back up soon.”  
“No, Mercy,” Simon replied.  
“You need rest,” Iris added.

I looked at her and then back at Simon. Simon looked at me.

“Was my car...completely destroyed?” I inquired.  
“The passenger side was bent completely inwards,” Simon explained. “The driver’s side was still intact.”  
“Did they get anything out of the car?”  
“Your papers and your bag.”  
“Where are my papers?”  
“You’re worried about some papers?” Iris cried. “Mercy, you almost died!”

Simon retrieved the papers from my bag for me and handed them to me.

“Mother, I’m dying _now_,” I retorted. “Pretty soon I won’t have to call you ‘mother’ anymore.”  
“What?” Iris choked out.  
“I don’t understand some of this stuff.”

Iris looked like she was going to have a heart attack. She left the room; I thought she was going to come back, but she didn’t.

“Simon?” I mumbled.  
“Yes, Mercy?”  
“I’m really sorry.”

No one talked about Simon’s LED; it was _still_ red. I’d been in the hospital for a week and there were no signs that it was going to return to normal. I really tried to keep Simon’s stress low, but it probably wasn’t helping that the only thing I could do by myself was go to the bathroom and eat or drink. Simon had to do everything else himself despite my telling him not to do anything. I didn’t want him self destructing because of my mistake. He’d gone back to the hotel to make sure the stay was extended and he’d had to make the calls to Dr Young and Dr Chase as to why I had to cancel my appointments or move them around. Then of course there were the times when Timothy tried to step into the room. I didn’t mean to freak out on him the way I did, but it wasn’t helping Simon’s stress at all.

“Timothy, for God’s sake, listen to me!” Iris screeched from the hallway.  
“Iris, she’s overreacting,” Timothy replied.  
“She’s got the papers now! We have to make things right with her!”

I sighed, the headache that had been creeping up on me finally reaching its destination.

“We don’t have to do anything,” Timothy tried to tell her. “Everything is fine.”  
“Our daughter almost died! Nothing is fine!”  
“I _am_ dying, Mother!” I called, pressing the “call nurse” button.

I requested that the nurse close the door for me. She really couldn’t blame me; no one wanted to listen to anyone screaming at each other in the hallway. But even with the door closed, I could still hear Iris screaming at Timothy. Eventually Timothy started screaming back.

“Wouldn’t most humans be upset that they’re dying?” Simon wondered.  
“I’m upset,” I replied. “There’s no point in crying about it now, especially if I’m stuck in a hospital bed. There are going to be days when I will cry, Simon. Do you know why my mother is so upset?”  
“You’re her child and you were hurt.”  
“She wasted an opportunity to be a mother. All these things that I told her the past couple of years, the ones she believed to be lies, are completely true. I never saw her or Timothy growing up; I had a human nanny until I was twelve and old enough to be home by myself. All I ever was to her was a nuisance and a liar. She wants to take all those years back.” I set the papers down and leaned back. “But she can’t.”

Iris didn’t like failure. Everyone had to fail at some point in their life, but being a failure was one of her greatest fears. She failed at getting into the district office, though she was still trying to get in. She failed at being a mother and now that was coming back to haunt her. Iris was going to do everything in her power to try and make me reconsider. But I wasn’t going to be swayed by any tears she cried; I wasn’t going to give in to her screaming and scolding. Even if she convinced Timothy to try and convince me, only under extreme circumstances would I even slightly bend.

“Mercy, your heart,” Simon told me.  
I looked at him. “I’m sorry. What would make your stress go down?”  
“You shouldn’t be worrying about me.”  
“Well, I am. I always have and I always will.”  
“Why?”  
It took me a moment to answer; he wouldn’t understand it, but I had to say it. “Because I lo--”

I was interrupted by Iris coming back into the room. Her makeup was ruined from the crying she was doing. She really should have just stayed at work. I didn’t completely understand why she would even come back into my room now that she knew I was getting emancipated from the family. She probably just needed to get away from Timothy. I’d never heard them scream at each other before. Sure, they’d exchanged words like they were scolding each other from time to time whenever I had seen them as a child. But I’d never outright heard them go at it. I left her alone to her thoughts in the corner of the hospital room.

“What were you saying, Mercy?” Simon wondered.  
“Never mind,” I replied gently. “Save it for another time.”

I couldn’t say what I had wanted to say now that Iris was back in the room. If I did, she would have gone off the deep end. She’d had enough emotional turmoil for one day.

“You should sleep for a bit,” Simon told me. “You barely slept last night.”  
“If I sleep now, though, I won’t sleep again,” I mumbled.

Really, I was exhausted. But I wanted to stay awake because of Simon. There was no way I was sleeping when Timothy was around. Visiting hours would be over soon, I could eat my food if I was hungry, and then I could sleep. But not now.

“Is it my fault?” Iris suddenly asked.

Simon and I looked at her.

“Is it?” she asked.  
“What do you think is your fault?” I replied.  
“If I’d been a better mother...”  
“Whatever is killing me, I was born with. My doctor doesn’t know what it is, but it’s been inside of me since I came out of my birth mother. It has nothing to do with you. Not everything is always about the family. It’s never been about the family.”

Right after I got that very small speech out, it was announced that visiting hours were over. Iris got up; it looked like she was going to say something to me, but then chose not to say it. She left, closing the door gently behind her.

“There’s only so many chances someone can have, Simon,” I explained. “I have no more chances to give her.”  
“And your father?” Simon inquired.  
“My father chips away at things over time, slowly. The last chip was when we ran through the forest. If it had just been my mother, we wouldn’t have had to run. I never want you to get hurt again.”

Simon didn’t say anything to that; he just took my hand when I offered it to him. I leaned back again. Hopefully things would be better soon.  
***

I was finally able to leave the hospital. I’d missed the first day back to class, but that was the least of my problems. Iris and Timothy weren’t reacting well at all to the emancipation. With my medical files, Dr Young’s testimony, and the hospital doctor’s testimony I barely even had to wait a day before it was granted. Iris had left me several messages, begging me to reconsider. Timothy was just angry that I had actually gone through with it. He didn’t like to waste time and the emancipation was just a massive flag telling him that I had been a waste of time to come into the family. I was fine being deemed a waste to him. What I wasn’t fine with was Iris’ constant complaining that I needed to talk to her.

Because she was no longer my mother, she wasn’t obligated to track me down at the hotel to talk to me. The hotel Androids and the human manager were notified that she was no longer my mother. I was permitted to keep the same last name; I was used to it, my professor’s were used to it, and I didn’t want to go through all the paperwork. I liked how my name sounded; it was just the family attached to it that I wasn’t fond of. Of course, I still called Timothy’s father “Grandfather” and I still called Nolan and Christie my cousins. Grandfather had sent me money so I could buy a new car; in his heart I was still his granddaughter.

“I don’t like the idea of automatic cars, Simon,” I admitted. “It scares me.”  
“There doesn’t look to be many manual cars, Mercy.”  
“The science behind the automatic ones is even scarier. A lot of scientific discoveries are scary, but there are some that is amazing.”  
“Like what?”  
“Huh?”  
“What scientific discoveries are amazing?”  
“Well...one of them is Androids. Part of that is you. Oh, that’s a nice car--and it’s automatic.”  
“Mercy, this one is manual.”

Simon and I talked back and forth about automatic and manual cars. He, of course, “wanted” me to go with the car that I wanted. But I had to explain to him that I didn’t want a car to decide for me what should happen if an accident was going to happen. A woman and her child could very well be killed just to keep, say, a decorated officer alive. If I realized I was going to be in an accident, I’d rather crash my car into the side of a building and hurt myself rather than hurt anyone else.

“Mercy, aren’t I the one that’s driving the car?” he asked.  
I paused and looked up at him. “Um...”  
“The doctor said in your discharge papers for you to not drive anymore.”  
“She did, didn’t she?”

I settled for the first manual car we found. There was no way I was going to continue looking through all the automatic cars to try and see if they were manual. I’d had the car I was in an accident with since I was fifteen and now I wasn’t even allowed to drive anymore. I sighed, exasperated, as I sat in the passenger side of the new one.

“Mercy, are you all right?” Simon asked.

My legs were cramped against the dashboard.

“I can’t adjust the seat,” I explained. “The lever...”  
“Would you like me to?”  
“No, it’s okay. I’ll do it when we get back to the hotel. Could we stop at Monroe Park?”  
“Okay.”

Monroe Park wasn’t too far away. I found Ralph easily when we got there; he was just saying goodbye to a teenage boy and his dog.

“Mercy, your head,” he noted.

Since my head had been so badly been busted open in the accident and it required stitches, there was now a scar. It wasn’t noticeable to other humans, but to an Android it would have been obvious. It was my first time seeing Ralph since getting out of the hospital; I obviously hadn’t been able to leave the hospital just to go see him. I was glad he was still okay.

“It’s nothing,” I told him. “How’s the soil?”  
“It should be okay for when spring comes,” he replied. “What happened to your arm?”  
“I broke it.”  
“How?”  
“I had an accident a few weeks ago. That’s why I couldn’t come until now. I was in the hospital.”  
“Are you okay?”  
“Yes, Ralph.”  
He smiled ever so slightly. “That’s good.”  
“It’s getting dark out, so I have to leave. I’ll come back tomorrow, okay? Be safe.”

When I got back into the car, I sighed. Both Simon and Ralph were safe from Timothy, now. I didn’t completely understand what Benjamin had meant when he told me they got rid of most of their Androids for insurance reasons, but I was sure it had something to do with Timothy. They’d rather remove the Androids from the area than get rid of their best employee. It was something, but they should have done better.

“Mercy, are you all right?” Simon asked when I leaned against the window.  
“I’m fine,” I replied. “I’m just tired, is all. I’ll rest up at the hotel.”

Simon and I drove back to the hotel in silence. I wanted so badly to drive myself, but if I was caught driving by anyone I would have gotten in trouble. The doctors were serious about me taking it easy -- they’d gone and almost tried to convince me to drop out of university. Back at the hotel as Simon and I were walking through the lobby, a little girl shouted behind me. She sounded excited about something. I turned to look at her, seeing that she was holding her Android by his hand and pulling him along.

“Daniel, come on, come on!” she was exclaiming. “Let’s make snow angels!”  
“I’m coming, Emma,” he replied. "It's getting dark out; we need to be careful."  
***

I sat on my laptop in the hotel room, looking through the emails my professor’s had sent me when I got a notification about an updated news article. It was on the decrease in sales for Simon’s model. Whatever was going to happen to the remaining models, I hoped that Cyberlife was going to give them a chance to find homes.

“Mercy?” Simon came into the room carrying the laundry basket. “You look worried.”  
“Oh, no, it’s nothing,” I replied. “I mean, I shouldn’t say it’s nothing; it’s something. It’s the news about the PL600 model.”  
He set the basket down on the table. “My model isn’t as popular as when you bought me.”  
“No.”  
“You could easily replace me with a popular model.”

I looked up at him. He was right; of course I could do that. But why would I do that?

“Simon, why would you say that?” I got up and wandered over to him. “That’s upsetting.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“The only reason why your model isn’t as popular anymore is because they come in only one face. The AX400 comes in two different ones and it, uh...can be customized...”  
“You didn’t want a custom Android?”  
“Ah, uh... Simon... That’s not... Um... _Simon_.”  
“Yes, Mercy.”  
“I can’t replace you.”  
“Why is that? There are other models.”  
“Yeah, there are other models of Androids, but you’re the only Simon. If something were to happen to you, I could get another PL600 but it wouldn’t be the same because he wouldn’t be _you_; he wouldn’t be Simon. If something were to happen, I could get an HK400, or I could go ahead and get an AX400 but it wouldn’t change the fact that none of them are you. You’re not replaceable or expendable or whatever it is you think you are.” I exhaled sharply. “Now if you’ll please excuse me, I need to finish my emails.”

I turned around but he continued to speak.

“What if I broke?” he asked. “Or what if something happened to my programming?”  
I turned to him, feeling emotionally drained. Sighing, I replied, “Run a diagnostic.”

I looked away while he diagnosed himself. Watching an Android run a diagnostic looked incredibly uncomfortable. Once Simon was finished, I looked back at him.

“Are you okay?” I asked.  
“Everything is running how they should be,” he told me.  
“Good. So you’re not broken and your programming is fine. If you did actually break, I would pay anything to have you fixed. If something happened to _your programming_, I can’t imagine anything bad happening.”

I sat back down at my laptop; I’d received another notification for a different news story, still on the subject of Androids. Somehow, people were losing their Androids. I tensed up. How did...someone lose their Android? They weren’t just objects you placed down somewhere and simply misplaced. According to the story, people had been losing their Androids since the beginning; most of the time, they were household Androids. But they were never found and they couldn’t be tracked. Losing sight of an Android in a crowd was one thing. This was a whole other thing. I looked at Simon as he folded up on of my shirts. He looked toward the door when he heard people talking to each other. Those people were exchanging “I love yous”.

“Mercy, what is that?” he asked.

I hadn’t noticed right away, but his LED had turned yellow.

“What’s what?” I mumbled.  
“Love.”  
“Oh. Um... I don’t know how to explain that. Love is...subjective, Simon. It can also be used to describe something someone really likes. Er... Let’s see... There are people who love soft blankets because soft blankets feel good when they’re touched. There are people who love dogs because dogs are happy to always see someone.”  
“What about you?”  
I pulled my knees up to my chest. “What about me?”  
“Is there anything that you love?”  
“I-I-I... I love journalism...because it’s a creative outlet for me to talk without actually using my voice...”  
“Okay. Thank you, Mercy.”  
“You’re welcome...”

I watched him continue folding the laundry for a few more moments before holding my breath and standing up. Before I could finish walking over to him, he rested his hands on the table. His LED was flashing yellow. He then looked at me.

“What about me?” he wondered.  
“Huh?” I stammered.  
“Do you love me?”

I stared at him, blinking slowly. I’d been hoping he wouldn’t ask that question. That was something I wanted to express on my own. But now I couldn’t. If I didn’t answer him, I’d hate that I didn’t give him an answer; he deserved an answer.

“Simon, that’s a different kind of love,” I replied. “That’s a loaded question. It’s not the same as loving sleep, or-or the car you drive... This is harder to explain. Er...” I folded my arms across my chest and swallowed hard. “When you love someone, you...well, you’ll do anything for them. You’ll do anything to protect them and keep them safe. They’re the first thing on your mind in the morning and at night. When you get hurt, they’re the first thing you can think of. There can be a million people in the room and you’ll only have eyes for them; they’re the only one you can really see. It doesn’t matter if you argue or get into a fight; what matters is that you make it up to them somehow and realize where it went wrong for the moment. So...um...to answer your question...y-yes, I do. I do...love you.”

Had it been necessary to ramble on and on how I did? Even though Simon had gotten an answer out of me, he continued to stare at me. His LED was still yellow. I exhaled sharply. I’d known he wouldn’t understand the feelings I had. I’d been scared to tell him in the first place and I only told him because he asked if I loved him. I didn’t know when it began happening; I just woke up one day and just had those feelings. I’d kept them to myself -- not even Dr Young or Dr Chase knew. People could probably see it in my face when I looked at Simon; the dirty and judgmental glares weren’t lost on me. I was taking the term “Android-lover” to a whole other level.

“Simon, are you okay?” I stammered.  
“Yes,” he replied.  
“Did... Did you hear what I said...or...?”  
“I did.”  
“See? _See_? I knew you wouldn’t understand.”  
“I’m sorry; did I do something I shouldn’t have?”  
“No. You’re fine. I’m mad at myself. I expected for you not to understand, and when you asked there was a tiny part of me that hoped you would, and it turns out that you don’t.”  
“Mercy?”  
“The funny thing about love is that it’s hard to understand for anyone. Unrequited love makes you feel like an idiot. And I feel like an idiot.”  
“Mercy, your--”  
“I don’t know why this happened, Simon. Who someone falls in love with is uncontrollable, so of course the Android lover falls for her Android. But even if I didn’t love you I know that I’d still do whatever I could to keep you safe and from getting hurt, because I did do that from the very beginning.”  
“You need to relax; your heart rate is too high.”

Indeed, I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I’d let myself get carried away into the stressful realization that Simon had just been merely curious and I had taken that curiosity to explain to him what was going on. It was even more stressful because Simon didn’t love me back -- he couldn’t.

“I’m sorry for yelling,” I mumbled.  
“You didn’t yell,” Simon replied.  
“It certainly felt like it...”  
“I’m sorry for upsetting you, Mercy.”  
“It isn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong. Getting upset at you won’t do any good and it won’t solve anything.”  
“Would you like a hug?”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

Once the snow began to melt for spring, I had Simon take me over to Monroe Park so I could talk to Ralph. He was just planting flowers when I showed up. He appeared to be happy that I showed up; his friend with the dog had left only a few moments before I came to see him.

“He had a girl with him today,” Ralph said as we were walking around the park.  
“Was she nice?” I asked.  
“I think so. She said the flowers I was planting were pretty.”  
“This might be late for me to ask, but is it okay that we’re rotating the park?”  
“Yes. I’m also making sure that the top soil is okay for tomorrow’s batch.”  
“You’re alone today...”  
“I’m not alone; you’re with me, Mercy.”

I looked at him and bit my lip to keep myself from laughing. That was adorable. Of course he didn’t understand that I was talking about the other Androids. I left it alone.

“Right,” I replied.  
“Mercy, that girl called the boy handsome as they left,” he suddenly mentioned, and stopped walking.  
I turned to look at him. “Did she? She was probably his girlfriend.”  
His lips twitched. “What about me?”  
“She’s _his_ girlfriend.”  
“No.”  
“Are you okay, Ralph?”  
“What I’m asking is... She called him _handsome_. Am _I_?”  
I blinked at him. “Huh?”  
“Am I handsome, Mercy?”

I turned my whole body toward him and folded my hands in front of me. His LED was yellow.

“Well, I don’t know,” I told him, unfolding my hands. “Can I touch your face quick?”  
“Yes.”

I already knew the answer to his question about him being handsome. But still, I placed my thumb and index finger on his chin and looked at him closer. I turned his head slightly before returning my hand to my side.

“Are you handsome? Well, I would say so,” I admitted.  
“And that’s good?” he asked with a slight smile.  
“Yes, Ralph.”

We walked around the park a few more times until Ralph mentioned that it was getting dark out. I looked around; the park seemed so empty without the other two Androids. Where even were they? I wanted to ask him about it, but he told me I had to go home since city authorities didn’t like people in the park after dark.

“I really don’t like the idea of leaving you alone,” I mentioned.  
“I’ll be okay, Mercy,” he replied.  
“I’ll come back tomorrow to check up on you.”

Ralph had gone and learned how to hug. I didn’t know where he had learned how to hug and I didn’t ask. It was awkward hugging since he didn’t know how to do it properly, but it was a gesture I appreciated. I looked back at him before getting in. There was a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I didn’t know what it was. I had to tell myself that Ralph would be fine in order to get myself in the car.

“Mercy, is everything all right?” Simon asked.  
“I hope so,” I replied with a sigh. “Let’s go home.”

Things with Simon over the months had been fine. I’d made it known that it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t understand how I felt. I could never expect him to understand. I didn’t let it hamper our time together. He still meant everything to me and all I wanted was for him to be safe. Iris had taken matters into her own hands when I refused to return her phone calls; I ended up coming in from the garden to find her in my kitchen. She’d found the spare key at the front door and locked Simon in the bathroom so he couldn’t come and notify me that she was there. She’d brought Simon into the middle of her insane need to talk to me and I wasn’t having that. I got Simon out of the bathroom before telling her that she could either leave willingly or I would call the police on her for trespassing.

“Do we have any tomatoes left over?” I inquired.  
“Yes. What would you like me to do with them?”  
“Can _we_ make bisque?”  
“Of course.”

The night I finally decided to return to the house after being in the hotel for so long was dramatic, to say the least. I tried to turn on the kitchen sink and the pipes beneath them had burst, as did the actual tap. The sound of pipes bursting caused me to scream; Simon had come when I started screaming for him to help me and found me absolutely soaked, head to toe. It didn’t take him long to get under the sink and turn the water off. He, of course, ended up getting wet, too. I’d gotten ill from the cold water; if it hadn’t been for Simon, Dr Young had mentioned I probably would have died. Hearing that, of course, made Simon’s LED turn red for a few moments.

“You have another appointment with Dr Chase tomorrow,” Simon mentioned as we pulled into my driveway.  
“Right,” I mumbled, grasping my right arm. “Thanks for reminding me.”  
“Are you okay?”

I looked at him, my lips twitching. He still had no idea what I was seeing Dr Chase for. It was the third appointment in two weeks. The next appointment, the one Simon reminded me of, was going to be the one that I was to be outfitted for my right arm. It would be another few weeks until I had to give up the arm I was born with and given the prosthetic from Cyberlife. Well, I didn’t have to give it up. I was allowed to back out at any time I wanted. But I wasn’t going to.

“I’ll be okay,” I replied.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell Simon when the time came to actually explain to him why I was different. I was going to be able to hide my arm underneath sweaters and dresses and blankets, but he was probably going to find out sooner or later, if and when my consciousness was uploaded, when he couldn’t detect my heartbeat.

“Let’s go in before you get sick,” Simon suggested.  
“Right. Sorry.”

My phone began ringing when we approached the front door. It was Iris’ phone number; I hadn’t had the nerve to block her from calling me. I sighed and picked it up.

“What?” I asked.  
“Can we please talk, Mercy?” she stammered.

Was she crying? I looked at Simon’s back as he unlocked the door. I didn’t have to listen to Iris anymore; I could keep Simon at my side while we spoke. If she had an issue with it, then... No, I couldn’t put Simon in the face of any danger. Whatever she was planning, whatever she wanted to do, Simon had to stay safe.

“You can come now,” I told her. “Don’t expect anything else from me, though. Please.”

Simon and I went inside; we got right to cooking to be finished before Iris showed up. I’d heard that she’d been ill from stress at work and the emancipation; she spent a lot of her time at home. I figured she was most likely there, and from that house to mine took almost two hours with traffic. We managed to finish up just as she was pulling into the driveway. I told Simon he could go wherever he wanted to go in the house and he just stayed in the kitchen, staring at me like he was confused.

“The living room,” I requested.

He wandered into the living room as I opened the door for Iris. She really didn’t look that good. She had always been a skinny woman, but I could tell that she’d lost a decent amount of weight. I waved her in and motioned for her to sit at the kitchen table.

“Thank--” she began.  
“Wait,” I mumbled.

I took a bowl out of the cupboard for her, gave her some bisque, and some slices of bread. I didn’t care if she had eaten already and I didn’t care that I was upset with her; no one ever left my house without eating when they looked ill. I got the same for myself and sat across from her.

“You can talk now if you want to,” I told her.  
“I understand why you got emancipated,” she explained. “I just...don’t understand why you didn’t speak with us first.”  
“Because there’s no talking to you. If I came to you and Timothy threatening emancipation, you would have just thought I was attention seeking. Again. And Timothy is scary. I know that shotgun wasn’t for Simon. You can eat, you know. It’s not poisoned.”

Iris nervously put the spoon to her mouth, almost like she didn’t believe me. She’d seen me put it in the bowl myself, hadn’t she? And I had the same thing in front of me. Though, maybe she was nervous because I wasn’t eating, either. I took a few bites myself just to reassure her that no one was going to die in my house.

“It’s good,” she said, sounding surprised. “What did you do?”  
“_Simon_ put in basil, thyme, a bay leaf, pepper, and smashed up spicy mustard seeds.”  
“No salt...”  
“I’m not allowed to eat salt, Iris.”

Iris set the spoon down with a sigh. She seemed upset about more than just the emancipation.

“Other than the fact you needed an Android,” she murmured, “why else do you have it?”  
“I also have _him_ because I needed and wanted a companion,” I replied. “I wasn’t going to school and I had no social interaction for a long time. The house was big and it was too quiet.”  
“I...” She swallowed hard. “Mercy, I see the way you look at it and the look you get on your face when you talk about it is... It’s the same way I used to speak about your fa-- Timothy.”  
“Okay.”  
“Is there some perk to having an Android around rather than an actual human?”  
“Why? Are you trying to tell me you don’t want to be replaced by an Android? You lost that privilege not to be years ago.”  
“Do you know about this place called, um...the Eden Club?”  
“Iris, that’s disgusting. They can’t consent!”  
“I’m not the one going, Mercy!”

I stared at her. If she wasn’t the one going and she was the one asking about it, it must have meant that it was Timothy going. For a moment, I wasn’t sure how to react. But then an overwhelming sense of laughter came over me. I started giggling and I couldn’t stop. Iris looked flustered, which made it even funnier. Timothy, the person who really hated Androids, was going to an Android sex club.

“Stop laughing,” Iris demanded.  
“I’m sorry, but that’s... Wow, that’s something else...”  
“Don’t you feel bad?”  
“I feel bad for the Androids.”

There was a long moment of silence; neither of us knew what to say. I couldn’t feel sorry for Iris. While I couldn’t say she brought Timothy’s going to the Eden Club on herself, she brought the emancipation on herself. The only one I felt for in her and Timothy’s situation were the Androids.

“Humans are disgusting,” I muttered.  
“Does your Android know how you feel?” she suddenly asked.  
I looked at Simon, who was sitting on one of the couches in the living room. “Simon?”

He looked at me, his LED yellow.

I inhaled sharply. “I love you.”  
“I know.”  
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Iris inquired. “It can’t say it back.”  
“Trust me; it hurt at first. But I’ve known from the beginning that he’ll probably never be able to understand. If he ever can, then...that would be great.”  
“What...exactly is its model? What does it do?”  
“He cooks, he cleans, he can fix things, he can drive... When I was discharged, I wasn’t allowed to drive anymore. And when I get sick, he helps me get better. Simon and I have had conversations before about the things he does. With my condition worsening, he’s had to do more than I want him to do. He was only supposed to help, but now he’s doing most things.”  
“My doctor has noticed the change in my health.” Iris shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I’m not allowed to speak of this, but there’s this...trial, I think I can call it. Cyberlife is wanting to branch out into prosthetics and then into actual bodies for humans. I said ‘no’, of course. That’s too horrifying. Who wants to live that long?”

I stared at her for a moment and then took a few more bites of my bisque. It took her a few bites out of her own to realize why I looked at her how I did.

“Are you--” she began.  
“If I was, I don’t think I’d be allowed to talk about it,” I interrupted.  
“I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be asked to do it.”  
“Maybe my heart won’t be able to handle it.” I shrugged. “Maybe if I _am_ asked to do it, I will do it.”

I was lying through my teeth. If I actually said I was part of the prototype testing, I had no idea how she would react. If I hadn’t told Simon, I wasn’t going to tell Iris. She wasn’t going to be the first person to find out. Iris finished up her food nervously. The woman would willingly allow herself to die before she even considered the testing.

“Your Android will never be able to give you want you want, Mercy,” she told me.  
“What do I want, exactly?”  
“Kids, I am certain.”  
“Can’t have them.”  
“Certainly you would...want to...”  
“If I’ve never done that, I don’t know what I’m missing out on. And it doesn’t seem like I’m missing out on much. Simon being safe and sound is all I need.”

Iris nodded, almost like she was understanding, and stood. I walked her to the door, where she turned back to me.

“I’m sorry, Mercy,” she said. “I should have been a better mother to you. It was selfish of me to want a child and then not take care of it.”

She left before I could say anything. I’d managed to get an apology out of her and I didn’t feel anything for it. The apology was so long overdue that I hadn’t been expecting one at all. I put the dishes in the dishwasher before going into the living room.

“It was good, Simon,” I mentioned. “The food, I mean.”  
“Are you all right?”  
“Yes... No. I’m not.”  
“Do you need a hug?”  
***

“After my appointment, can you take me to Monroe Park?” I asked when Simon parked outside of Dr Chase’s building.  
“Of course.”

The appointment wasn’t even anything that serious. There was a scientist from Cyberlife that needed me to test out the touch receptors. According to them, the touch receptors were going to be slightly more powerful that the ones Androids had. I didn’t even realize Androids had them. They were going to be more powerful to help humans adjust easier to their prosthetics. Seeing the actual prosthetic in person was interesting, albeit a bit scary. The other things that came with the prosthetics was that they were going to be able to interact with Androids.

I was closer to getting what I wanted, but I was nervous about it. Simon noticed something was wrong when I got back to the car. I told him that Dr Chase had just told me some statistics; that was all.

“Mercy, I can’t take you to Monroe Park,” Simon said before we could turn the corner down the street to where the park was. “It’s closed off.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“The park is closed off.”

I stared at him for a moment. The park was closed off? How could a park be closed off? Had someone gotten killed in that park? Or had something else happened? I remembered how Ralph was alone the night before.

“Mercy?” Simon asked.  
“Are there police there?”  
“I believe so.”  
“Come with me.”

I got out of the car and walked down the street with Simon. Indeed, the park was closed off; a holographic police line was saying not to cross it. There were no Androids in the park, but there were two WR600s standing with a police officer and a city employee. I’d spoken to the employee a few times, so I had no trouble walking up to him.

“Hey, what happened?” I asked.  
“One of the WR600s is missing,” he replied. “It looked like there was a fire in the park last night.”  
“Which one?”

I felt like I was going to cry, or scream, or faint, or all three. I didn’t know why it took me so long to notice that there wasn’t a third WR600 standing around anywhere. I gripped Simon’s hand and took a step back when the city employee told me which WR600 it was.

“Ralph.”

After a moment, I stormed back down the street to my car, having let Simon’s hand go. I leaned against it, trying to catch my breath.

“Mercy?” he asked.  
“I shouldn’t have left him alone,” I sobbed. “I shouldn’t have... It was... Ow...”

My chest was hurting and I couldn’t feel anything in my left arm.

“S-Simon...” I choked out. “An ambulance... Call one...”

After Simon did as I asked of him, his LED turned red. I hadn’t been facing him when my chest had begun to hurt, so he hadn’t processed what was happening until I had to get on the ground. Even I wasn’t able to understand what was happening, initially. Dr Young had warned me that it was going to happen sooner or later, and even the hospital staff had told me it was going to happen. It was what was going to happen if I didn’t lower my stress. As much as I tried to lower my stress levels, there was always going to be other stresses that would present themselves.

Visiting Ralph was one of the least stressful things I could do. The only time I ever worried about him was the night before; when I had to leave him. Walking the park, talking to him, and listening to him weren’t stressful things. I even cut back on going to university; I still went, but only to my journalism class since it was once a week. But Iris coming around didn’t help. I always stressed about the safety of Simon; I couldn’t help it.

My mind went black, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in a hospital room. Simon was sitting in a chair next to me and holding my hand. His LED flashed yellow and then returned to blue when he saw that I was awake.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled.  
“The doctor said you had a heart attack,” he said. “She explained when it meant.”  
“I let myself get too stressed out, didn’t I?”

Simon helped me sit up.

“How long have I been here?” I wondered.  
“A few weeks,” he replied. “Your heart was under much stress. The doctor explained they were putting you in a medical coma. They only just gave you the medicine to wake you up today.”

I pressed the “call nurse” button so the hospital could know that I was awake, at least. They came to check my vitals before writing something down on the medical chart and leaving.

“Mercy?”  
“What is it?” I looked at Simon.  
“Did you know that you were going to be given a prosthetic?”

I didn’t realize it until he asked me; him holding my hand didn’t feel as strong as usual. Simon was eventually going to find out, but never wanted him to find out because I was in the hospital. Dr Chase had taken the liberty of giving the go ahead when I was in my medically induced coma. I wasn’t upset about it; at least I didn’t have to go through the nervous feeling from going into surgery.

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” I murmured.  
“They didn’t tell me anything else.”

I wasn’t about to tell Simon about what else was to come; I’d get worked up over it, and that would only upset the doctors and would stress my heart out even more.

“I’m really sorry, Simon.”  
“The doctor said that someone your age shouldn’t be having a heart attack,” Simon told me. “It’s a side effect of what you have.”  
“Well...” I sighed, grasping Simon’s hand harder. “I’m really going to have to learn how to relax, aren’t I?”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

“Photography is interesting,” I mumbled as I sifted through my photos.  
“You want to be a journalist,” Simon mentioned.  
“Well, we need to take a photography course in order to finish journalism. Most people take it in their last year. You can come look if you wa--” I sighed. “You can come look.”  
Simon wandered over to the kitchen table. “Why do you need to?”  
“Sometimes journalists like to include photos in their pieces.”

Most of the photos that were laid out in front of me were of landscapes. All the assignments so far had been to take pictures of the city, or the country, or the river; nothing to do with people. It was the least stressful class, at least, and I was able to go to the university physically three times a week, opposed to once a week.

“You’re still taking history?” Simon asked.  
“Yes. I needed something to fill in the blanks. So far, history has lined up with photography. We’ve already been at it for two months; I hope they give us something else to do. It’s interesting overall, but the assignments aren’t enjoyable.”  
“You could ask your professor.”  
“I don’t know. Maybe she’s saving the good assignments for our finals. I certainly hope so.”  
“You don’t like the landscapes?”  
“It’s not that I don’t like them, Simon -- it’s just... I don’t know. The only time I pick up my camera is when I have an assignment and it’s _all_ been landscapes.”

My camera was eventually just going to end up sitting on a shelf somewhere in my basement to collect dust. I only bought it for the class. I didn’t enjoy taking photos in general and I wasn’t going to end up shooting photos for my articles unless needed. I’d decided that I was going to be a freelance journalist; I wasn’t sure how many people would want to hire someone so controversial, but it was worth a shot.

“Is everything all right?” Simon asked.  
I leaned forward and rested my chin on the back of my hand. “Yes. It’s just that...things aren’t getting better. That boy in my history class isn’t in any of my other classes, but he still somehow manages to find me. Maybe I’m overthinking things -- and I know I shouldn’t. What if... What if that paper I wrote is the first and last one I’ll ever write?”  
  
He stared at me like he didn’t know what exactly it was that I was asking. Simon also probably wasn’t the right _person_ to ask. That was a question I should have asked my journalism professor. But if I knew anything about his advice, it was just to ignore the people who hated controversy.

“Okay, no, you know what?” I exhaled sharply and stood, collecting my photos. “Everyone has a choice. There’s always a choice. Be good or be bad. Love or hate. Take the road most travelled or take the road least travelled.”  
Simon’s LED turned yellow at my words. “Mercy?”  
“There’s always a choice to be made, Simon.”

I placed my photos, all of which had been graded already, in the box I had been collecting them in and set them on the shelf by the front door. Even if Simon couldn’t understand “choices”, I still wanted him to know that they were a possibility, and I could only hope that someday, somehow, he could make choices of his own.

“Iris sent you another message,” he told me.  
“I thought my emancipation would help, but she’s still trying to control some parts of my life,” I mumbled.  
“What is she doing?”  
“She wants me to write a paper on why the Eden Club is bad.”  
“Don’t you think it’s bad?”  
“Of course I do. To actually do a paper on it, I’d have to go into the club and...I’m pretty sure I have to be twenty-one. I can look into it. It’s definitely something I want to write about. I know that the Androids were made for that specific function, but I just... Like household Androids, they didn’t have a choice to be there, and...”  
“Mercy, do you--”

There was a knock on my door; Iris’ knock. I sighed and went to answer it. Her makeup was ruined. Clearly she’d been crying over something. It was probably the fact that Timothy spent a lot of time at the Eden Club. For someone who hated Androids so much, he spent a lot of time with them. He probably didn’t even treat them well while he was there, but would the owner do anything about it? Probably not.

“Yes?” I asked.  
“Will you or will you not do the paper?” she sniffled.  
“You travelled all the way down here to-- Iris, I need to do some research before I even think about doing a paper on it.”

Iris blinked at me; she was trying to guilt me into doing it just for her.

“I want to write about it, but I can’t if you don’t leave me to it,” I told her.  
“May I at least come in and clean up?” she stammered.

I walked away from the door to allow her to do what needed to be done in the bathroom. Simon’s LED was still yellow; what was he even trying to process? Was he okay? I held his hand.

“Are you okay?” he asked.  
“I’m nervous,” I admitted. “What’s the probability that I write another paper so good that my professor reacts the same way?”  
“It’s good.”  
“It was a rhetorical question, but thank you for answering anyway. What about you? Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine.”

I sat down at my laptop and looked up the Eden Club; it felt weird just even typing the name in. Indeed, I had to be twenty-one to even enter the place, considering they had alcohol. That was one way to keep “kids” out. But the paper I was going to end up writing was going to be based on morals -- of course, the people who went to such places clearly didn’t have morals. Timothy was married, but the morality of matrimony wasn’t stopping him. Even if they hardly ever saw each other, I knew that Iris was willing to give Timothy anything he wanted. Not to mention the consensual part of it all -- the Androids were programmed to please humans in a sexual manner, but that wasn’t _consent_, now, was it? They were essentially just sex slaves. Really, the whole idea made me feel ill.

A paper that I could use to call out people like Timothy would do some harm to people’s relationships, but it might deter others from going. Of course, how many people would listen to the controversial opinion of a nineteen-year-old university student? There _had_ to be at least one other person in the world who felt the same way as I did about Androids, right?

“Mercy, your heart.” Simon touched my shoulder.

I was letting myself get stressed out. It was something worthwhile to get worked up over; at least that was what I thought. I wasn’t going to be able to change people; all I could do was voice my opinions whether people wanted to hear them or not. If people wanted to see things how I saw things, then all they would have to do is read my papers and listen; but that wasn’t up to me...it was up to them. They could choose to listen to me and they could choose to see how wrong everything was, or they could choose to stay the same.

I shut my laptop with a shaky breath. “Sorry. I’m...sorry.”  
“What are you sorry for?” Simon inquired.  
“You didn’t ask for any of this. No Android asked for any of this.” I turned in my chair and looked up at him. “You didn’t ask to be created, or ask to be made a household Android, or--”  
“You need to relax.”

Iris came out of the bathroom; she looked like she was ready to leave, but then looked at me.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.  
“Nothing,” I replied. “My chest hurts a bit, that’s all.”  
“That’s not nothing, Mercy. Why haven’t you gotten on a transplant list yet?”  
“Who says I’m not? Can you please go now, Iris?”

She didn’t bother arguing with me; she just left.

“Is it really hurting?” Simon wondered.  
“I barely even notice it,” I reassured him.  
“In any case, maybe it would be best if you laid down for a while.”

It took me a moment to actually get up and go to my bedroom. Simon stayed in the kitchen so he could start on the cooking. As much as I liked cooking with him, I had to listen to him -- I couldn’t stress myself to the point again where I would just end up in the hospital. That would stress him out, too, and I didn’t know how much more he could take. I didn’t want his LED to be yellow or red forever, never return to blue. For Simon’s sake, I couldn’t afford to be so stubborn anymore. Even if it was in his programming, he was far too good for me. I knew at some point I was going to have to face him and tell him what I was doing with my body; not even the Cyberlife scientist that was helping Dr Chase and I knew how an Android would react to their owner becoming like them. Maybe if I told Simon slowly what was happening, it would lessen whatever the reaction would be.

I was always slightly stressed out, even with school being the furthest from my mind. I was so scared that one day instead of it being Iris at the door, it would be Timothy and he’d get his chance to hurt Simon. Then, of course, I was worried for Ralph and wherever he was, if he was still even alive. I could barely stand driving by Monroe Park knowing I couldn’t stop and see him again -- because he wasn’t there. I was worried for Nolan and Christie, who had managed to sneak a few calls to me when Rebecca wasn’t paying attention. Dr Young was concerned that all these worries would bunch up into one large worry and harm me worse than my heart attack did.

I awoke a few hours later, feeling panicked. What was wrong with me? I didn’t understand, Simon didn’t understand, and I especially didn’t understand. Sighing, I trudged my way out into the living room and then into the kitchen. The lighting was good and I hadn’t had a chance to practice photography on people. Grabbing my camera, I set a timer and wandered over to stand next to Simon to help him.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked.  
“A little,” I replied.

I heard the shutter of the camera click, but I didn’t move. Simon looked at me after a moment.

“Is it your head again?” He cocked his head at me. “Mercy?”  
“My head is fine. Please just always remember that I love you.”  
***

“They’re shutting Pirate’s Cove down?” I gasped.

Nolan and Christie had asked me to go check on the Jerrys; they’d forgotten to apologize for the last time we had gone and wanted me to do it for them since Rebecca wouldn’t come anywhere near Detroit. What was she scared of? Being arrested?

“Yep,” the Jerry that welcomed people to the park replied. “But it’s gonna be okay.”  
“Is it?” I huffed. “What about all of you? What’s going to happen to you?”  
“That’s a good question.”

Even when they didn’t know what their fate was going to be, the Jerrys were so happy. It was the final week for the park to be open and then it was going to just shut down for good. I didn’t understand; kids loved the Jerrys. Was it too tiring to travel outside the city to spend time with the family? I hated the idea that they were just going to be left in the park.

“You can come to my house,” I mumbled.  
“Wow, that’s so generous of you, Mercy,” Jerry mused. “But the park management wouldn’t allow it.”  
“If the park is closed, then...”  
“We’re technically still property of the park.”

I didn’t want to cry in front of someone as happy as Jerry, but it was almost hard not to. Anyone else would have thought I was insane for allowing so many Androids into my home, especially so many happy and outgoing ones. It wasn’t like the park would come and do a head count for all the Jerrys in the park, right? So who was to say I couldn’t take them back home with me three by three in the backseat of my car? I’d be stealing, but I’d be stealing to be doing good.

“We appreciate you, Mercy,” Jerry admitted. “But Pirate’s Cove is our home.”

I blinked up at him. Was he saying what I thought he was saying?

“You..._want_ to stay here?” I asked.  
“Yes.” Jerry smiled even brighter. “We’d be sad if we had to leave.”  
“Is there anything else you want?”  
“There’s lots of things we want, Mercy.”

There was a lull in people coming into the park, so I pulled Jerry to the side in between two game stalls. I poked my head out and looked both ways before turning back to him.

“You actually want things?” I whispered.  
“Of course. Why wouldn’t we?”  
“Androids aren’t programmed to want, Jerry.”  
“We know. Is something wrong?”  
“Not necessarily; it’s just that...if other people found out that you _want things_...they might hurt you or deactivate you.”  
“We’ve been this way for a while.”  
“What’s a while?”  
“Almost a year now.”

I didn’t understand how the Jerrys had come to want things, but it was reassuring that they weren’t just going to be stuck in an abandoned park against their will. I really couldn’t tell the difference between the Jerrys when I first met them and the Jerrys now. It was good to know that they were just naturally happy.

“Can I ask when you started wanting things?” I inquired. “I mean, when you first realized that you _could_ want. Like...how?”  
“One day we just felt different.” Jerry quickly ran out from between the stalls, welcomed a few families to the park, and then slid back in. “We don’t know why we felt the way we did; we don’t know why we became this way. We felt...scared when a parent would yell at us, or if a little boy or little girl went missing or couldn’t find their family. We felt happy when families came into the park. We felt sad when someone said they were too old to come here. We felt...alive, Mercy. We stay this way because we like making families smile.”  
“Jerry...”  
“We trust you. We wouldn’t tell anyone else but you. We know you wouldn’t do anything to hurt us. Most humans wouldn’t understand.”  
“No.” I shook my head and looked down. “They wouldn’t.”

I clenched my prosthetic hand into a loose fist and unclenched it a few times, biting the inside of my cheek. The scientist said I’d be able to interface if I wanted to or needed to.

“You’re not disappointed, are you?” Jerry asked. “We’d love to come see you or if you came to see us.” He frowned. “It would be dangerous for all of us, wouldn’t it? Even for you.”  
I inhaled sharply. “I’m not disappointed at all. Can you give me your hand?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Jerry held out his hand to me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to do it, but I was going to figure it out. I grasped his hand firmly with my prosthetic and thought about the location of my house. The skin on his forearm deactivated, as did mine; his LED turned yellow and he blinked rapidly a few times. I pulled my hand away after a moment, shaking.

“You’re human,” he said, surprised. “How did you...”  
“Cyberlife is testing prosthetics on humans,” I admitted. “There’s only a few of us. Eventually...we’ll be like you, with our consciousness uploaded into a custom Android. I’m a walking prototype for Cyberlife.”  
“That’s incredible. You gave us the way to your house?”  
“If things ever get bad or if you want to leave, even if you just get scared, you can come. You’re all welcome. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”  
“We’ll see each other again someday, Mercy.”

Jerry had to get back to work before any of the human maintenance workers could get suspicious and I’d left Simon in the car alone for too long. When I got back to the car, I almost didn’t want to get in. The Jerrys had been behaving the same way as before they felt alive. What if Simon was doing that, too? He knew how much I wanted him to have a choice, but what if he was just pretending to be the same so he could stay and care for me? I inhaled sharply and, fighting back the tears that threatened to come out, got into the car.

“Is everything all right, Mercy?” Simon asked when I shut the door.  
“No,” I replied. “Pirate’s Cove is shutting down.”  
“What’s going to happen to the Androids?”  
I looked at him. “They wanna stay here.”  
“Androids can’t have wants.”

Rather than trying to argue with him about it, I kept quiet on the way home. Before going to Pirate’s Cove, we had dropped the paper I did on the Eden Club with my journalism professor. That had only been a few hours ago at this point, and upon returning home my cell phone pinged with a message from him. He’d read through it, marked it, and gotten it over to the newspaper office in less than four hours to make the afternoon issue. I quickly went into the house in case I had to be sick. But I barely made it into the entryway before realizing how bad of a panic attack I was having.

“Why can’t he ask first?” I breathed. “What’s so hard about asking me to publish it? Did he think I would have said ‘no’?”  
“You didn’t want it published,” Simon reminded me.  
“I know, I just...wish he would have had the decency to ask...”  
“Your heart.”

My chest was in pain and it felt like my heart was going to burst from my rib cage. I couldn’t allow myself to have another heart attack; I couldn’t. I forced myself to think of other things to calm myself down -- one day I’d be able to have a cat or a dog of my own; one day I wouldn’t be sick anymore; one day I wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore... I hugged Simon tightly, finally able to calm down.

But only for a moment. There was a knock on the door. Assuming it was Iris to thank me for writing the paper, I opened it. It was Timothy. At first I wasn’t too surprised to see him, but then I realized he had his magnum with him. My heart began beating quickly again.

“Having an Android has made you even worse than before you had one,” Timothy snapped. “So,” He pushed me backward so he could step into the house, “I’ll just have to deal with _it_.”

It only took me a few seconds to realize what he had meant by “it”. He wasn’t dealing with the situation I had created with the papers; he was going to deal with Simon. Timothy hadn’t been in Simon’s view, but it didn’t take long for that to change.

“Don’t you dare!” I snapped, shoving Timothy out of the way.

My shove had caused him to reflexively pull the trigger; thankfully it only shot through the roof. I grabbed Simon and pulled him toward the cellar door. He went down in front of me at my insistence; there was no time to argue. Of course, it didn’t take long for Timothy to start chasing us after he slammed what I assumed was the front door shut. Only Simon and I knew that there was a trap door that led up into my bedroom. We both tried to quickly make for it; but it was dark and I kept tripping over things that were in storage or jars or tables. The only way I knew what direction to head in was by Simon’s LED.

Simon pulled the ladder down for the trap door, but it hit the floor with a loud _clang!,_ just how it always had done that, no matter how careful either of were. There was no light coming through the trap door just yet; it still had to be opened. But I heard Timothy skittering around to find where we were. We had to give it a moment before we could move. I looked up at Simon’s LED, reached up, and covered it. It was quiet. When I thought it was okay for us to go up, Simon went up first and opened the trap door.

A gunshot rang out and I quickly ran up after him. Slamming the trap door shut, I locked it. It was going to take a few moments for him to find the kitchen entrance again and we needed to get to the car rather than the forest again. I grabbed Simon’s hand and pulled him through the house and to the front door. Timothy was already bounding up the steps to the kitchen by the time I was struggling to open the door. Just as I got it and the screen door open, another gunshot rang out.

Iris’ car was just coming down the hill, even with police behind her, when Simon and I reached my car. Even when Timothy came out of the house, gun in hand, Iris screeched to a halt to turn her car to block at least me from him should he shoot again. From the yelling that the cops were doing, Iris had been speeding, but the yelling quickly switched to the fact that Timothy had a gun.

“Simon...?” I breathed. “I don’t...I don’t feel too good...”

Iris got out of her car by crawling over into the passenger side and opening that door. Simon was already trying to check what was wrong, but he could barely move me without causing me to scream. There was a pain that I couldn’t pin point.

“Stop, stop, stop!” I shouted when he and Iris tried to pull me forward.

Iris grabbed the zipper of my jacket and pulled it down. Simon’s LED blinking and rotating red told me that something was wrong with what he was seeing.

“Hey,” Iris said gently at first, but then she stood up and starting shouting. “My daughter needs an ambulance!”

Timothy had been aiming for Simon the whole time. I’d been doing my best to shield Simon the whole time. I’d gotten shot without realizing it. Three officers managed to get Timothy into handcuffs, while the other three all called in for an ambulance. I had been running on pure adrenaline that I hadn’t felt the gunshot get me; and according to the officer that was looking me over, it hadn’t come out. I was just losing consciousness when I heard the sound of ambulance sirens.

“S-Simon...” I stammered, attempting to grasp his hand with my prosthetic. “Simon, I...”

I couldn’t get any other words out before I lost consciousness. The last thing I remembered was darkness, coldness, Iris crying, and Simon telling me to stay awake.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

I barely remembered what had happened by the time I woke up in the hospital. The room was so completely white that I thought perhaps I had died and heaven somehow turned out to be a real place. Despite how long I must have been asleep for, I was exhausted. No one was in the room with me; I was completely alone. I pressed the button to call the nurse. Immediately she came in with a doctor.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor murmured.  
“Tired,” I replied.  
“That’s normal.” She pulled out a small penlight from her pocket. “Follow the light with your eyes only, okay?”

I did as she asked of me; once she wrote my reaction down, she looked at my heart monitor and wrote my blood pressure and heart rate down.

“Do you remember what happened?” she asked.  
“I remember trying to protect Simon from the man who used to be my father.” I thought about it for another moment. “Um... Where _is_ Simon?”  
“Simon is your Android?”  
“He didn’t get hurt, did he?”

The nurse and doctor exchanged glances; they didn’t like that I asked if he got “hurt”, because people like them didn’t think Androids could get hurt.

“Your mother went for a walk with it,” the doctor told me. “They should be back any moment. Would you like us to page them?”

Was there any need to worry? If Iris was going to do anything to Simon, she would have done it already, right? As I was deciding if they should be paged back or not, Iris wandered in; she looked exhausted. When she saw I was awake, she waved her hand at the door.

“Simon, she’s okay!” she exclaimed.  
“Keep your voice down,” the nurse hissed, and she walked out.

Simon wandered in; his LED was yellow.

“Are you okay?” I asked, reaching out my hand.  
He took it. “I’m fine, Mercy.”  
“I don’t remember much. I didn’t... I didn’t know if you were hurt or not.”  
“Simon said that you were using yourself as a human shield,” Iris said, sounding confused. “You’re shorter.”  
“So then...I got shot?”  
“The doctor told us that the bullet didn’t exit,” Simon explained. “You were in surgery for twelve hours.”

I felt my lower lip tremble. It had been bad enough that it took _that_ long just to get a bullet out of me? Then there had been the chance of leaving Simon? Iris knew and Simon knew that I would die for him; but what would my last words have been if I _had_ died? I tried to remember the things I had said and done before and during Timothy chasing Simon and I through the house. There were flashes of it, but there were no words; just the feelings of wanting and needing to keep Simon safe.

“Mercy, are you all right?” Simon asked.  
“I don’t know...” I sniffled. “Maybe? I can’t remember anything after the cellar... Iris, why are you here?”  
“Because I got to your house when you were coming out of it,” Iris explained. “Your fath--” She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. “Timothy was raving like a lunatic about the paper you wrote. I panicked and tried to call the police, but he took the phone from me and locked me in our bedroom. It took me so long to break down the door; when I saw he wasn’t there anymore, I knew that he was going to hurt you or try to do something to your Android. They wanted me in the ambulance, but I don’t know anything about your medical history. So they took your Android with them and told me to come to the hospital.”  
I almost didn’t want to ask. “And...Timothy? What about him?”  
“Jail, for now.”

I hated that she had said he was in there for now; it just had the underlying expression that he was going to get out at some point. He hadn’t killed me and they probably only had held onto him until they knew that I actually was alive before sending him to actual jail. Still, even if he was going to be locked up for a limited time, I was just happy that Simon was alive.

“Did you know you cry in your sleep?” Iris wondered.  
“Um...do I?” I looked up at Simon.  
“Sometimes,” he replied.  
“Oh... This...probably is a weird thing to ask, but what’s the date?”

It had been a good few weeks since that had happened; I’d gone and slipped into a coma. The doctors had no idea why that had happened. They only knew I was coming out of it the day before I had woke up. They had been the ones to clear out the room of any people, including Simon. Sometimes when people awoke from a coma and people were with them, it scared the patient so much it caused incredible distress. Simon had been permitted to stay with me the whole time and, because he only ever listened to me, had to be dragged out of the room by Iris and a nurse.

“Your photography professor left a few messages,” Iris mentioned. “The university knows you’re in here. Ah, she wanted to let us know of the midterm final assignment that was due a few days ago. She told us before it was coming up, just in case you woke up. I hope you don’t mind, but I went back to your house and looked through your camera roll...”  
“What was the assignment?”  
“Domesticity.”

She barely held the envelope that contained my assignment out to me before I grabbed it from her. I only had one photo on my whole camera roll that represented domestic life. I hadn’t even looked at it after taking it. As soon as I had left the sink, I turned the camera off and set it on the shelf. But it had turned out wonderful. The lighting was perfect; the setting sun coming in through the kitchen window had set the mood so well. My professor’s notes on the photo made me even happier -- apparently I captured the essence of the average household that contained an Android, but with a sprinkle of love.

I hadn’t completely understood what people meant when they made fun of the way I looked at Simon, or the way Iris told me I looked at him. But now I understood what they meant. It was so evident on my face how I felt.

“She wants to blow it up and enter it into a competition,” Iris told me. “I told her to wait until you woke up so you could decide.”  
“No,” I immediately said.  
“But it’s so good--”  
“No. It would make things worse. I’m content with the mark, but I don’t want it published like my papers were.”

Iris nodded and took my assignment from me, but then set it on the table next to the bed. She looked exhausted.

“When was the last time you slept?” I asked. “Or at least slept _well_?”  
“I’ve been here every day, Mercy,” she admitted. “I know you would have been okay with just your Android, but I had to know that you weren’t going to die.”  
“Well...I’m okay now...so you should go home and sleep.”

She didn’t argue with me; all she did was squeeze my free hand before leaving. I rested back into my pillows once she was gone. The whole time Simon had been standing and just holding my hand.

“You’re allowed to sit on the bed with me,” I mumbled.  
“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.

I blinked at him; how was I supposed to answer that? Of course I was all right. Other than being tired, I didn’t think anything else was wrong with me. I tried to go back in my memory and see if he had ever asked if I was “sure” that I was fine, but I couldn’t think of any time. I shrugged it off, chalking it up as him double checking for his programming. He finally sat on the edge of the bed after a moment.

“The doctor said you should have died,” Simon mentioned. “But you didn’t.”  
“I refuse to,” I replied, my tone matter-of-fact.  
He cocked his head slightly at me. “Why?”  
“Maybe I’m stubborn like that.”  
“Is that something humans can decide, Mercy? If they die or not?”  
“If there’s something that’s really important to them, then they can fight to stay alive. It’s a subconscious decision, I think. But there are times when people don’t want to die, they do anyway, because of things like old age or...” I sighed, “or an undiagnosable disease.”  
“You won’t die until you have to?”  
“I guess that’s what I’m saying. My life expectancy is twenty-five, Simon.”  
“What will happen to me?”  
“I’m hoping by then, you’ll somehow be able to want things and be able to make your own choices.”

I squeezed his hand with a sigh. How many times did I have to tell him I wanted him to be able to do those things? If the Jerrys were able to, how come he wasn’t able to? Granted, the Jerrys had always been yelled at, belittled, and abused by visitors and the human maintenance workers somehow. But ever since I had Simon in my life, I’d almost died three times. Surely that was just as traumatic? I didn’t want Simon to have to deal with it anymore. If I were anybody else, perhaps they’d send him back to Cyberlife to be reset, to erase what he’d seen and experienced; then it’d be like he never existed.

“Simon, our experiences make us who we are,” I told him. “They aren’t always good; sometimes they’re bad. And the bad tend to leave scars, whether they’re visible or not. It’s how you use those experiences to influence the life you have. There’s--”  
“There’s always a choice,” he said.  
***

“Mercy, are you going to school today?” Simon asked.

He had walked into my bedroom to see that I was awake and dressed; it wasn’t a day for journalism or photography. I missed going to my history class; the Android professor was more interesting to listen to than the monotone voice of my journalism professor or the high pitched voice of my photography teacher. I’d been told to take another couple weeks off from school. I only took another week off and then decided that I was just going to go back.

“Yes,” I replied. “You don’t have to drive me if you don’t want to. I can just take a taxi.”  
Simon said nothing about wanting anything. “I’ll drive you.”  
“You’re sure?”  
“Yes, Mercy.”

I wandered out into the living room, only for a massive headache to present itself. Even if I wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class, even if I might have gotten a nosebleed, I was still going to go. Besides, if I showed up to class and that boy had decided to go, too, I was going to do my best to just ignore his ugly words. Usually I could barely tolerate the things he said about me; but it was the comments about our professor and Simon that really got me.

“I’ll make you breakfast,” Simon mentioned.  
“Can I help?” I stammered.  
“If you would like.”

Ordinarily I wasn’t awake to see how he cooked food in the mornings. Unlike humans, he left the pan alone when making food. When I used to cook for myself, I had a habit of pushing the food around. It never turned out _bad_; it just never turned out great. I could barely crack an egg without getting a shell mixed in.

“Mercy...” Simon looked down at me.  
“Is something wrong?”  
“The news this morning... Someone lost their Android.”  
“Again?” I rocked back and forth on my feet with a sigh. “Simon, that’s always happened. What are you asking?”  
“If you lost me, would you report me missing so you could get me back?”  
“If I...” My heart dropped. “If I lost you...like if someone took you, then I would report you missing so I could get you back. Now if I lost you as in...you wandered off because didn’t want to be here anymore...no, I wouldn’t.”  
“That would hurt you.”  
“Which one are you speaking of?”  
“Wandering off.”  
My lips twitched. “It would hurt. But it wouldn’t matter what I wanted in that situation. If you didn’t want to be here anymore... You’d be _wanting_ things, Simon. If there’s anything that I hope you can do someday, it’s to be able to want and decide for yourself what you want to do.”  
“You would prefer it if I were here by choice, not because my programming tells me to stay?”  
“I’ve told you this before, Simon -- _yes_. And I’m not gonna change my mind, either.”

Simon left it at that and looked back down at the stove. When the eggs needed to be cracked, I did them myself and proceeded to send the shell in with them.

“Oh...” I mumbled as Simon fished them out.  
“Should I teach you how to crack an egg properly?” he asked.  
“No.”

As soon as the food was done cooking, I ate it as quickly as I could -- there was hardly any time for us to leave. On the way to the university, Simon’s LED was yellow. What was he processing, exactly? I wanted to ask, but decided against it. But when he stopped in the parking lot, I didn’t want to get out right away.

“Mercy, is everything all right?” Simon wondered.  
I looked at him. “You know that if anything is ever wrong, you can tell me, right?”  
“I know. Do you need me to walk you to the door?”  
“No... No, I should be fine.” I inhaled sharply as I opened the door. “Thank you. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?” Once I got out of the car, I turned back toward it and knelt down slightly to look into it. “And, Simon, you...don’t have to sit here for four hours. Anyway, I love you.”

I shut the door and scurried my way to the building before he could reply that he knew that I loved him. It was still a few minutes before the professor was going to start the lesson and the boy I actively always tried to avoid decided it would be fun to throw paper balls at me. Only he and his friends thought it was funny; to anyone else it was just annoying. But I was the Android-lover of the class and no one would dare speak up on my behalf in fear that they would be labelled as such.

My headache just grew with their laughter and I knew I couldn’t let it get to me because of my heart. I moved to the complete other side of the classroom just to get away from him and his friends. There was no reason to get angry at them; it didn’t matter what I said. They went out of their way to move closer to me, again. Even when the professor asked that they settle down, they didn’t; they were just quieter about it.

I’d missed being in history class; it wasn’t the same as getting the notes emailed to me. And even if it was in his programming, the professor was intuitive. I had come on the day we were beginning to learn of the French Revolution. With the boys behind me, it was difficult to concentrate but I did my best. They were making my headache worse, though.

When I was much younger, I’d been able to go to school regularly until my disease made itself known. I had always been made fun of for being adopted or for not looking anything like my parents, and then of course I was teased for being a bookworm. In high school, it had gotten worse since I couldn’t go as often, and those people thought I didn’t go because of their teasing. It was something I was used to -- and with the family I had left, being teased and mocked relentlessly was a picnic.

At the end of class, though, the boy grabbed my hair and tugged so hard and let go so abruptly that I ended up hitting my face on the desk. I didn’t even have to do anything to get them to leave me alone at that point; he and his friends gasped and giggled as they ran out of the lecture hall. I quickly gathered my things and headed for the bathroom. Sure enough, my nose was bleeding. I did what I could to stop the bleeding as quickly as I could, but blood had ended up getting all over my sweater.

I went to the bookstore, grabbed a random sized sweatshirt, and paid for it, before returning to the bathroom and changing out of my bloody sweater. Simon was at the curb waiting for me, standing in front of the passenger side door as usual. His LED was yellow again.

“I’m sorry for being late,” I mumbled.  
“It’s okay,” he replied. “Did something happen? You’re not wearing your own clothes.”  
“It’s my own clothes, now. I got a...nosebleed in class and bled all over my sweater. I didn’t realize this new one was gonna be so big. Are you okay?”  
“Yes, Mercy. Is there anywhere you would like to stop today before we go home?”  
I spoke without thinking. “Pirate’s Cove.”

Simon didn’t question my decision; when we got into the car, he took me right there. He waited in the car for me while I wandered into the now abandoned park. It looked different with snow; of course, I had driven passed it many times before. But I had never been inside it during the winter. I knew that overtime and lack of maintenance, the park would become decrepit. At least, for now, it still looked how it should, though it looked smaller now that it wasn’t packed to the brim with families.

I was treading lightly and looking around carefully; if there were patrols, still, then I didn’t want to get caught. The place seemed like a ghost town, though. Had the Jerrys been taken to storage or had they decided to leave the park?

“Mercy!”

I jumped with a gasp. Placing my hand over my heart, I turned to look at the Jerry who had shouted happily. I took a deep breath to calm myself. He hadn’t meant to scare me; he was probably just excited to see me.

“You came to see us?” he asked.  
“Yes,” I replied. “Um...where are the rest of you?”  
“We hide in different spots. Are you cold? We can go to the tavern!”

Without awaiting my answer, Jerry took my hand and led me in the direction of the tavern. I thought it would have been boarded up, but it wasn’t. He let me go and wandered in the direction of a stack of wood. I never thought the Jerrys could start a fire, but there this one was...starting a fire in the tavern. As he did that, I noticed writing on the wall. Upon closer inspection, it didn’t seem to mean anything. At least, it didn’t to _me_. Maybe it meant something to the Jerrys?

“What’s this mean?” I wondered aloud.  
“What does what mean?” Jerry asked, obviously still working on the fire.  
“This...rA9?”  
“rA9 is supposed to free us.”

I turned to look at him as he wandered over. What did that even mean?

“You’re free now, aren’t you?” I asked.  
“Yes!” he replied cheerily. “But I think ‘free’ here means...”  
“You would be able to walk around without worrying that you’ll be harassed or berated or...killed...just because you’re an Android...”  
“I think that’s it.”

I looked at the writing on the wall again, but then paused. Looking at Jerry, I grabbed his hand.

“Jerry, why do you hide?” I murmured.  
He frowned. “People like to come and hurt us...”  
“You didn’t... You didn’t just tell me that!”  
“Mercy, it’s scary. But it’s okay.”  
“Jerry...”  
“Being scared is part of being alive, right? And that’s what we are.”  
I sighed, squeezing his hand softly. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just concerned. There’s nothing else that scared you, is there? Even if it’s part of being alive, Jerry, being scared isn’t a nice feeling.”

Jerry’s LED was yellow; he was conversing with the other Jerrys. After a moment, he squeezed my hand.

“We were scared to tell you that we weren’t the same,” he admitted. “We knew, and we know, that you love us, but...we thought that maybe you _wouldn’t_ love us anymore if you found out that we’re alive. We thought, ‘There’s no easy way to tell her, so let’s just tell her!’ and...” He shrugged, “you still accepted us; you still loved us.”  
“There’s no reason why I wouldn’t, and...that’s a reasonable thing to be scared of,” I replied gently. “Rejection is one of the scariest things out there. It’s not the _worst_ kind, but...it’s still scary, especially if the rejection is coming from someone you trust, and...love.”  
“What’s wrong?”  
“Nothing; don’t worry.” Sighing, I let his hand go and reached up with both of mine and squished his cheeks. “Seeing you upset is...disappointing. I’m sorry if I worried you.”

Jerry gave me a big smile and grabbed my wrists.

“I promise I’ll come see you more, okay?” I said as he held my hands instead.  
“We’ll try not to scare you next time,” he promised.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

“They boarded up the tavern?” I sighed, shoving my hands in my pockets. “Why didn’t they do that in the first place?”  
“I think they found out that people come here,” the Jerry I was talking to replied. “And they boarded it up so those people couldn’t stay inside. I’m sorry, Mercy.”  
“It’s not your fault.”  
“But you came to see us and you’re shivering.”

I shrugged. We had gone into the tavern several times before it had been boarded up. I didn’t come to expect the tavern to always be open -- I knew that eventually they would most likely shut the place permanently. And I wasn’t about to let any of the Jerrys bust the windows open for my sake, even though the one I was talking to suggested it with a big smile. The last time I had come, I’d discovered one of them had lost their arm from one of the humans who came and hurt them. For some reason, he was still the same, just without an arm. If I was going to be cold while visiting them, then that’s what I was going to be.

“How many more times do I have to tell you I’m more concerned about all of you more than myself?” I asked.  
Jerry smiled. “Probably a lot more.”  
“Well, that’s... I don’t know.”  
“How cold are you?”  
“It’s not too bad, honestly. I’ve got my gloves. My hat. And I remembered to wear thick socks today, so that’s helping.”  
“Do you want to walk around?”  
I shook my head. “It’s fine. Unless you want to. Do Androids get cold?”

Jerry thought for a moment. I was asking because all of the Jerrys were, in one way or another, _covered_ in snow and some of them also had ice on them. It didn’t seem to bother them at all, which led to my question; but at one point I had more than one Jerry with me in the tavern and they were drawn to the fire.

“We don’t really _get_ cold,” he replied. “We feel the cold, but not as bad as humans do. We’re not sure how to explain it. What happens when humans get cold? Besides shivering.”  
“Sometimes we get cold enough that we can’t really move our fingers or toes,” I mumbled. “If we get too cold, we can get sick.”  
“If you can get sick, you shouldn’t be here!”  
“Jerry, I’m fine. I’m not even that cold. I mean, I’m shivering _because_ I’m cold. I’m just...not _that_ cold...”

Of course I was freezing, but I just didn’t want the Jerrys to worry themselves over me. Simon was definitely going to tell that I was freezing; there was no helping it. He was waiting in the car for me.

“Did you see your family for Christmas?” Jerry asked.  
“Um... No... I didn’t,” I told him. “I’m not... I don’t know how to explain this. They’re not my family anymore.”  
“Did something happen?”  
“A lot of things happened, Jerry.” I let out an exasperated sigh. “But it’s okay. I’d rather it just be Simon and I, and you, and R...”

I looked at the ground, biting my lip. I still didn’t know if he was okay, wherever he was.

“Mercy?” Jerry nudged my arm.  
“Sorry. What was I saying?”  
“You were saying that you would rather it just be you, your Android, and us... And then you started to say someone else, but you stopped.”  
“Jerry, when people came to the park with their family...did any of them seem...unhappy?”  
“There were a lot of people like that. All we could do was try to make them happy.”  
“We weren’t a happy family.”

With Timothy still locked up in jail for however long, Iris had spent Christmas at her office building doing work. I didn’t know what Rebecca or the kids or the rest of the family had done, though. Simon and I had spent Christmas Eve day and Christmas day turning things into jams, compotes, and sauces. That was all I needed, really. Patrols were heavier on those two days; if they hadn’t been, I would have gone and seen the Jerrys, too.

“We’re happy when you come see us,” Jerry told me.  
“Good; that’s good.”  
“Do you sometimes wish we’d reconsider coming to your house?”  
“Knowing you get hurt, yes. But knowing you want to be here, no.”  
“You have to travel pretty far to come here...”

It really wasn’t that far to travel; it wasn’t a big deal and Simon usually made sure to tell me to be careful before getting out of the car. But just leaving him in the car felt weird. I could have asked him to get out with me -- I’d suggested it once and he said it was fine that he was in the car. He wasn’t going to get in my way talking to the Jerrys -- according to him, there wouldn’t be much for them to talk about.

“Mercy, when will you be like us?” Jerry wondered.  
I took my prosthetic hand out of my pocket and looked at it. “They’re working on my second arm now, so...probably in a couple of years until I get the whole body...?”  
“Do you know what you’ll look like?”

Jerry sounded excited about what was to come. He was more excited than I was, really. I still needed to tell Simon what was going to happen; it was just difficult for some reason. He’d probably ask me so many questions that began with “why”.

“I’m going to have an LED, if that’s what you’re asking,” I admitted. “If you’re asking what my face is going to look like, it’s going to look like _me_.”  
“Aren’t you scared?” Jerry held my hand.  
“I don’t think so. No? I don’t know. I’ll find out if I’m scared when I get to that point.”  
“You’re going to have a model number, surely.”  
“Ah, yeah, we talked about that. MG100.”  
“Those are just your initials; what if someone else has the same?”  
“I was one of the first ones to say ‘yes’ to the testing, so it’s mine. They made sure to get testers who have different initials from each other, so we’re all going to have different model numbers. Let’s say...in ten years time, someone else with the initials MG comes along. They’ll be MG...whatever number Cyberlife decides to give to them. MG100 is just mine. And they won’t be doing it for people just to give it to people. It’s going to be people who have a serious disease like I do, or people who lost a limb in an accident... They won’t be doing it for just anybody.”  
  
He had another question; I knew he did, but it must have been a sad question. Instead of asking it, he told me to head home -- it was getting darker and colder, and he didn’t want me to get sick. After promising that I’d come visit again soon, I quickly hugged him and speed walked back to the car. Simon was listening to the news -- when I got back in, there was another report that another Android was reported missing.

“Simon, are you okay?” I asked.  
“Yes, Mercy.”

Simon drove off in the direction of home, leaving the radio on. More Red Ice busts, more people losing their jobs...more blaming it on Androids. I sighed and leaned against the window. When were people going to learn that it wasn’t an Android’s fault that they lost their job? Maybe it was easier to blame them rather than their boss.

“You’re freezing,” Simon suddenly mentioned.  
“I just need a few minutes,” I replied, taking my gloves off and placing my hands on the dashboard’s heater.  
***

“Simon, I need to ask...tell...um...ask you something,” I stammered.

It was a few days later and I’d given myself enough mental pep talks to be able to talk to Simon about what I needed to say. But now that I was actually doing it, I questioned whether I was ready or not. He was standing at the stove, prepping soup for a later time, and I was just peeking around the corner.

“Is something wrong?” he inquired.  
“I hope not... I’ll wait until you’re done...”

I sat at the kitchen table with my laptop, looking through emails from my professors. Marks from tests and essays were returned. I wasn’t a perfect student, but I consistently didn’t get anything lower than a B-. I did incredibly well in journalism and history, but definitely not photography. Every time I got a photography grade back, I was worried it would be too low. I was always fine, of course. After a while, I shut the laptop and rested my head down on the table.

“Is everything all right?” Simon asked.  
I looked up. “I’m just waiting.”

It was a few more minutes until he turned the stove off and placed the lid on the pot. He sat in the chair next to mine so I could talk to him properly. I really had no idea how to tell him. I was scared, but I didn’t know what I was scared _of_.

“You...know how I have this prosthetic?” I asked quietly.  
“Yes,” he replied.  
“It’s...not...the only one I’ll be getting...”

He cocked his head at me, his LED turning yellow. Of course he didn’t understand exactly what I was getting at. I bit my lip; I should have practiced more, but I was already talking to him about it. There was the option of saying to never mind anything; that wouldn’t help, though. It might have just made me more nervous.

“Eventually, I’ll be getting my other arm replaced,” I continued. “And...after that...in a few years’ time, I’ll...be like you...”  
“I’m not understanding, Mercy.”  
“My consciousness is going to be uploaded into a custom-made Android that looks just like how I look now.”

His LED turned red. It blinked a few times before rotating rotating. I leaned back slightly; his LED had done that before when we were in danger, but not because I’d said something like this. It took a few moments before it returned to yellow.

“Why?” he wondered.  
“I have to admit that it’s for a selfish reason,” I replied. “We started this testing so it could give me even just a tiny bit of extra time alive. I gave permission for my consciousness to be used like that because I want to live to see Androids have rights and be free and have choices.”  
“Won’t humans know that you’re not a human?”  
“I’m going to have an LED, yes. And the thirium, and the regulator...” I shook my head and held his hands. “I’m not dying until you’re free, Simon. Okay?”  
“Okay. Your heartbeat...”  
“I know; I was just...scared of telling you.”

It was a moment before I stood up and wandered out of the kitchen, through the living room, and then into my bedroom. I needed to be alone and I needed to sleep. That talk with him had been pretty much how I had expected it to go. I just hadn’t realized how bad I would feel. Why would a human want to become an Android, willingly, when the world hated them so much? My reasons were purely selfish, or at least that was what I thought. I wasn’t going to allow myself to die and leave a world where Androids, where _Simon_, weren’t free. Even if it would take the scientists until I was twenty-six, I’d fight to stay alive and try to ignore my twenty-five year life expectancy.

It sounded like an insane person’s raving. But I loved Simon, and I loved the Jerrys, and, wherever he was, I loved Ralph. And I didn’t want them to have to be harmed in any way if I somehow died before anything else could happen with the testing.

I didn’t remember falling asleep; I didn’t even remember getting tired. But I woke up the next morning. For a moment, I just wanted to stay in bed -- I didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to talk, but I could smell whatever Simon was cooking in the kitchen wafting down the hallway. Even if it wasn’t a day to go to school, I shrugged on some clothes and wandered down the hallway. I rubbed my eyes as I entered the kitchen.

“Mm... What is that?” I droned.  
“Pancakes,” Simon replied.

It was like I was snapped awake. Pancakes? I’d never even asked Simon to ask me those and I hadn’t put them on the list of things I liked to eat. Still; I didn’t pay it much mind. They smelled good and Simon was a good cook, anyway. Then it dawned on me -- he had one of the jars of berry compote out. I wasn’t supposed to have high amounts of sugar, so he hadn’t been able to give me pancakes in the first place -- syrup was too sugary and store bought compotes contained way too much sugar.

“Thank you,” I mumbled when he handed me a plate.  
“You’re welcome.”

There was a split second when I thought the skin on his hand began to deactivate, but I blinked and saw it wasn’t the case. I shook my head, chalking it up to still being tired. Was my mind really playing tricks on me? How cruel did it have to be in order to do that? Unless it was another side effect of my disease. I certainly hoped not; there was enough wrong with me.

“Should I take you anywhere today?” he asked as I sat down.  
“I don’t think there’s anywhere I _need_ to go,” I admitted. “Oh. Do we need groceries?”  
“No. _You’re_ stocked for a while.”

I nodded and opened my laptop; I was immediately bombarded with news articles. A lot of them were about the rise in protests against Androids. I moved on to my email, but there wasn’t even anything good in there, either. There was a message from Iris and the message just made me slam my laptop shut.

“Mercy, is everything all right?” Simon asked.  
“No...” I mumbled.  
“Nothing appears to be wrong with your heart or your head. Does something else feel wrong?”  
“It’s going to start getting a little more difficult when we go into the city.”  
“Is it the protesters?”

I nodded with a sigh. Even if my appetite was gone, I still had to eat. I finished up quickly and cleaned my dish before Simon could.

“Mercy?” he asked as I began cleaning the dishes in the sink.  
“I’m fine,” I lied, my voice cracking.  
“Do you--”  
“Simon, Timothy made bail.”

Just saying it out loud turned me into a sobbing mess. How could someone like that be allowed to even make bail? His bail had been so high, too -- it must have been Rebecca to pay it off. Of course she wouldn’t want her own brother to be in jail, but he’d almost killed me. Why did he have a bail set, anyway? Was it because he was so influential? Was it because he was deemed important? Benjamin had informed me that Timothy wasn’t even going to have a job if and when he got out. He’d be on parole, but that probably wouldn’t stop him from coming around again with a gun. What was I supposed to do? Just keep the door shut? Never let Simon outside? I couldn’t do that.

“Ow...!” I whimpered.

I’d taken my hands out of the sink, but my normal hand had gotten cut by one of the knives. Simon retrieved the first aid kit for me; he spread ointment over the cut before bandaging it up. Once he was finished, I pulled him into a tight hug. It took him a moment to hug me back.

“I’m sorry,” I sobbed.

He probably had no idea why I was apologizing; but I was apologizing for everything. I was apologizing for him not having a choice; for being blamed for everything; for being put in danger... Just everything I could apologize to him for, I said it. Because I _was_ sorry.

It took me a while to calm down, but even then I was still struggling not to cry. It was quiet enough that I could hear the soft swishing of his thirium being pumped. I didn’t even know how long we had even been standing there for, but he was making no moves to let go of me and I was making no moves to let go of him.

“Mercy, I--” he began, but he was interrupted by knocking on the door.

I jumped and let go of him. I wasn’t going to answer it until I heard Iris saying it was just her. Even then, I barely opened the door a crack to double check. She looked worried, but she was alone. I sniffled and let her in.

“I’m guessing you saw my email?” she sighed.  
“Water is wet,” I retorted, wiping my eyes. “Iris, how could this happen?”  
She shook her head. “I don’t know, Mercy.”  
“I don’t care what happens to me; what about Simon?”

Simon looked at me, blinking.

“Can you move?” Iris suggested.  
“Where?” I shrugged. “Back into the city? Even that’s risky.”  
“I can’t stay long; I only came to make sure that you were okay.”  
“Does it look like I’m okay? Who would be okay after--”  
“Mercy, your heart,” Simon interjected.

My heart was beating quickly. I had to calm down. Rather than continuing to speak, I just sat down at the kitchen table and put my head down. Iris got the hint and left, shutting the door behind her. I heard Simon lock it; only then did I look back up.

“Getting angry won’t help,” I mumbled. “It won’t help anyone.”  
“Mercy, I need to tell you something.”  
I inhaled sharply. “Go ahead.”  
“I’m scared.”  
“Me, t--t--”

A chill ran up my spine. I looked up at him, unsure of what I had just heard him say. It sounded like he had said he was...scared. Simon was scared. There was a look on his face that I had never seen before. Worry. It was worry. I held my breath as I stood up and walked over to him.

“Did you just say that you’re scared?” I asked quietly.  
“Yes. I don’t like this.”  
“O...Okay...um...”

Simon was scared. I didn’t know what to do. Was his first emotion being scared? If that was so, it wasn’t okay. Being scared wasn’t okay, period, but being scared as a first emotion was even worse. I knew when I was scared, Simon hugging me made me feel better.

“Do you want a hug?” I asked, panicked.

He nodded -- before he was even done, I hugged him again, this time tighter. It wasn’t a moment until I realized that it wasn’t going to work the same way -- I was too short. I let him go and grabbed the stool that sat next to my shelf. Standing on that, I hugged him once more. Just like that, I could tell that it was better. He was able to rest his head on my shoulder like I could rest my head against his torso for extra comfort.

We stayed that way for almost an hour. It didn’t matter what emotion it was -- if an Android suddenly felt emotions, it must have been incredibly overwhelming. And not just on the Android themself, but they’re mind palace and they’re programming. The software was probably broken.

Simon pulled away from me and helped me down from the chair. It seemed like he didn’t know what to do.

“Are you...okay?” I mumbled.  
“I think so,” he replied. “I’ve never felt _this_ scared before.”  
“Was... Was it not your first emotion...?”  
“No, it wasn’t.”  
My lips twitched as I thought. “I’m glad it wasn’t, but then...”  
“I’ve been this way for awhile now.”

I blinked up at him, unsure of what to say. What had happened? Why was he only telling me now? I thought back to when I had spoken to Jerry the first time after Pirate’s Cove shut down, in the tavern. The Jerrys had been scared to tell me that they had emotions, that they felt they were alive. I’d been telling Simon for so long that he could tell me anything; he’d said he hadn’t felt “_this_” scared before, meaning he’d been at least a type of scared before.

“How long?” I wondered. “Ah, wait, no. No, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

I shook my head -- I’d asked the Jerrys when they began feeling things, but I hadn’t expected them to answer. Maybe Simon just needed a little something that told him he really didn’t need to tell me. If he didn’t want to, then that was perfectly okay. He had choices. _He finally had choices_. Just that was enough of an answer for me.

But still, Simon took my prosthetic hand in his. I nervously watched the skin on my hand and forearm deactivate, as well as his. The information he gave me was overwhelming. The chipping away at his programming and software had began not too long after I brought him home. The major chipping hadn’t started until my first hospital visit with him, but even after that the small chipping continued. My constant saying that I didn’t want him to get hurt had overpowered his programming’s understanding of “Androids can’t get hurt” and “Androids can’t die”. That’s why he had eventually stopped saying those things. The days I had been in so much pain had chipped away at his programming. The times I told him that I loved him had chipped away at his programming. Every little thing that I ever did to protect him or show him that he was alive had chipped at it. The thing that caused him to break out of his programming was when the doctors and nurses had to drag him out of my hospital room.

His first emotion was relief that I was going to be awake soon. But it slowly shifted to worry -- he had thought that I’d be scared waking up and not immediately being able to see him. He just pretended to be the same because he had been scared I wouldn’t want him around anymore; I wouldn’t love him anymore; I’d just send him back to Cyberlife. Even when I told him he could tell me anything, he didn’t know how I would react. He loved me but he didn’t want to be rejected.

I’d never reject him -- I showed him that. I showed him just how far I would go to keep him safe. I showed him just how much I loved him and appreciated him. Even the times I felt bad that he was doing things for me, I showed him just how bad it was and had been. I didn’t have to show him how bad it hurt when he had replied that he knew I loved him -- he drew that out himself. He squeezed my hand harder. Everything I had ever told him about how I felt was true. He got all the way until he told me he was scared, and then he let me go.

I didn’t know what to even say. All that information had been moved around in less than thirty seconds. For the first time since I had brought him home, Simon smiled. It was only slight, but it was definitely there. He’d never smiled before breaking away from his programming because it had told him his job -- taking care of an incredibly ill human -- was too important to smile. Then after breaking away, he never smiled because he was worried and he didn’t want me to suspect that anything was wrong. He’d made the choice to pretend to stay the same way for my sake.

“I wanted to tell you earlier,” Simon admitted. “You pulled away too fast, and then Iris came to the door.”

It hadn’t been my disease playing a trick on me -- his skin really _had_ deactivated. He’d originally been planning on telling me by interfacing with me? He trusted me that much?

“I understand why you waited as long as you did,” I reassured him. “But...what now...? I’m not sure what to do. I’m trying not to make it weird. It’s not weird. It shouldn’t be _considered_ weird...”  
“It’s weird,” Simon told me. “Mercy?”  
“Yeah?”  
“I love you.”

It was different hearing it out loud than hearing it inside my head. I didn’t know why and I didn’t know how, but that’s just how it was.

“I love you, too,” I murmured.  
“I’ll finish the dishes,” he said. “Then can we talk?”  
“Yes...”  
***

Simon apologized for the pain he caused me by pretending he was still obeying his programming. There was nothing wrong with that -- I’d told him already I understood why he had done so. There had been many times when he wanted to just tell me, but then he’d get scared. I wasn’t mad at him. I wasn’t upset. I couldn’t be. By the time we were finished talking, it was the evening.

“Are you all right?” he asked when I leaned against him.  
“I’m good,” I told him. “Are you?”  
“I... Mercy...”

I stopped leaning on him and looked at him. He sounded...sad.

“There’s always a choice to be made, right?” He looked at me. “That’s what you told me.”  
“Always.”  
“I can’t... I can’t stay with you.”

It felt like my heart dropped. I knew that his decision was coming; I had a feeling I knew what it was. Hearing it was a whole other thing entirely.

“Is that what you _want_?” I asked.  
“No,” he admitted. “I want to stay here. I want to take care of you. You need me; I know you do. But I’m choosing to go because as long as I’m with you, your life is in danger.”  
“I don’t get a say in whether you leave or not, Simon.”

My voice came out cracking. I looked away quickly and stood up.

“You should,” he said.  
I inhaled sharply, trying to compose myself. “I don’t _want_ you to go; clearly and obviously I don’t.” I turned to look at him. “I don’t want you to go because I want to make sure you’re safe. But you should be making your own decisions now. Choose what you want to do. I appreciate you and I love you; I always have and I always will.”  
“Will you be okay without me?”  
“I’ll...figure something out. Where are you gonna go?”  
“I don’t know yet. I’m sure I’ll find somewhere.”  
I took his face in my hands with a sigh. “Listen...no matter what choices you make, I’m sure you’re going to be part of something great. I don’t know what that thing is going to be, but...” I shrugged, “it _will_ be great. You'll always have a home to return to, if you choose.”  
He placed his hands over mine. “We’ll see each other again, Mercy.”

Simon gave me a quick kiss before getting up. We weren’t going to make it any harder than it already was. I let him gather clothes in a backpack in peace. Once he was finished, he hugged me from behind and kissed the top of my head.

“I love you.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

I struggled to wander down the hallway; I recognized the knocking at my front door as Iris’ knock. My car was out front, so she knew I was home. When I finally reached the door, I pulled it open faster than I had expected to. Iris looked completely shocked to see me -- I didn’t look okay, I didn’t feel okay, and by my panting I probably didn’t sound okay.

“Mercy, oh, my God, what’s wrong?” she gasped.  
“Nothing...” I breathed. “Nothing... I’m fine...”  
“Well...sit down, at least!”

I stumbled over my own two feet on the way into the kitchen. Iris tried to grab my arm, but instead I grabbed onto the shelf and shoved myself hard enough that I stumbled to the table.

“Where’s your Android?” she demanded.

Iris hadn’t come to see me in just over a month. Wherever Simon decided to go, he was long gone. I hadn’t told her, obviously; I’d told no one but the Jerrys. I had spent days crying and just laying in bed. Even if I was happy he was gone and making decisions of his own, I missed him dearly.

“He’s gone,” I panted. “Simon is gone...”  
“What?! Please tell me you’ve reported him missing!”  
“He left on his own -- if he left, it’s because he wanted to.”

I wasn’t going to tell Iris that I let him go; no way. She’d think I was crazy.

“Androids can’t want.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. “In either case, you need to report him missing.”  
“No.”  
“Mercy Greene--”  
“I said, no, Iris.”

Iris stormed to the back of the house where my bedroom was. She was in there for a few minutes, but when she came back out, she grabbed my arm and dragged me through the house.

“Get dressed,” she snapped. “I’m taking you to the police station.”  
“What for?” I sniffled.  
“You’re gonna report your Android missing, Mercy!”  
“Didn’t you read my first paper?”  
“God, I don’t care if it’s about the rights! This is about you needing it! Look at you; you can barely stand on your own!”

She waited outside my bedroom while I pulled the clothes she picked out for me on. I didn’t want to report Simon missing; I’d told him that I wouldn’t do that. But I couldn’t just leave it while Iris coddled me over it, and I’d rather report him missing myself than Iris taking it into her own hands. What was the likelihood he would be found, exactly? As far as I knew, none of the other missing Androids had been returned to the people who reported them missing.

Iris had finally, completely come around to the idea that I needed an Android; she hadn’t come around to the idea that Androids deserved rights -- Simon deserved rights. She didn’t say anything as she dragged me out to her car.

“Iris--” I began.  
“Mercy, look at you!” she interrupted. “That Android of yours left you and it knows you need it. Why do this to yourself? You should have said something!”  
“Please stop. _Stop it_. I’ll report him missing if you just stop.” I leaned against the window, feeling like I was going to vomit. “It’s not like they’ll find him, anyway.”

Iris let out a frustrated groan and began driving toward the police station. I could have easily called it in, but there was room for me to just hang up the phone and forget it. She was taking me so I couldn’t just back out. I felt like an idiot that I had to be dragged up to the police station by the lady who used to be my mother. Did they even take the reports seriously? Most cops didn’t like Androids anymore than most other people.

When we stopped in the car park of the station, I just stared at the building. With how I looked, they were definitely going to think I was on drugs. I mentioned that I just needed a moment to gather myself. There was no point in stalling, but it was a big promise that I was breaking to Simon. I kept telling myself that there was no way they would find him.

There were Androids at the front desks. I wasn’t going to tell them why I was there, and it took a good moment for Iris to realize that. She announced why we were there and we were cleared to go through the entry gate.

“Jesus, you okay?” one of the guys sitting at a desk asked.  
“Are _you_?” I retorted. “That’s a gnarly scar.”  
“Is it Red Ice?”  
“No,” Iris immediately snapped. “She needs to report a missing Android.”  
“Gotta talk to the captain about that before we take a report down. His office is over there.”

I heard him muttering something about Red Ice as Iris pulled me toward a short set of stairs. She knocked on the glass door -- the whole room was glass. The man inside had clearly seen us coming since he’d gotten up from his chair to open the door. Iris was just faster and she was an impatient rich woman.

“Red Ice?” he asked.  
“I’m not on drugs!” I almost shouted. Clearing my throat, I repeated quieter, “I’m not on drugs.”  
“She’s reporting a missing Android, Captain Fowler,” Iris said.

I looked around. How did Iris even know his name? She probably had to deal with him when Timothy got arrested. Fowler rolled his eyes and retrieved a clipboard, before handing it to Iris and sending us back to the guy who originally spoke to us.

“Another missing Android?” he muttered.  
“If it helps, I don’t wanna report him missing,” I said.  
He looked at Iris as if to ask her if I was serious. “Okay; what’s your name?”

I stayed quiet, but Iris nudged me in my side.

“Mercy Greene,” I replied, monotone.

I could feel the eyes of every police officer and detective looking at me. A lot of people didn’t necessarily know what I looked like, but they definitely knew my name. They must not have seen my interview for Channel 16.

“_That_ Mercy Greene?” he asked.  
“_The_ Mercy Greene,” I mumbled, completely over the whole ordeal already. “I doubt there’s another person with my name out there. My parents wanted to be as unique as possible. When they _were_ my parents, at least... You’re not one to judge, Detective Reed.”  
“Sure. What’s your Android’s serial number?”  
“Five, zero, one, seven, four, three, nine, two, three.”  
“You...don’t sound like you want it back.”  
“If he wandered off on his own, it’s because he wanted to. I’m assuming you read my paper.” I turned around to see that there were still some people trying to inconspicuously look at me. “And all of you, too.” I turned back to him. “I’m only reporting him missing because Iris wants me to.”  
“Uh-huh. I didn’t read your paper; my girlfriend read it to me. ‘You can tell a lot by how someone treats their Android.’” He rolled his eyes.  
I looked at Iris. “Is he for real?”  
“I’m trying to take my job seriously, here. You’re making it kinda difficult.”  
“Could’ve fooled me...”

There was suddenly a loud bark and I immediately stood up to hide behind Iris. There was a pit bull, almost dragging a lady behind it. It just looked excited to be in the police station. When it arrived at the desk, it jumped up onto Iris.

“Rosie, down!” Reed commanded, and she sat down. “She’s not gonna hurt you. It took her a long time to even be okay to--”  
“I’m really allergic to animal fur and their saliva,” I told him.  
“Okay, fine; let’s just get this report done and you can be on your way.”  
***

The next day, Iris was driving me to school. We passed by a Cyberlife store; I hadn’t seen one in weeks from either not being able to leave the house or because I was driving myself to class and couldn’t afford to look at distractions. I looked at the sign with a sigh.

“I’ll get you a new one,” Iris suggested.  
“No,” I immediately replied. “You already said you were going to take care of me.”  
“I...probably don’t cook as well as Simon, huh? You barely touched your breakfast.”  
“I can’t eat salt and I watched you salt the eggs.”  
“Oh...”

Iris had gone through my spice rack the evening before and had ended up bringing the salt she had at the old family home over. She must have forgotten about the doctor’s “no salt” speech. The rest of the ride to the university was quiet. Iris had taken the liberty in promising to take care of me -- meaning, she’d do the things that Simon had done so I didn’t have to push myself. Of course she wasn’t as good as Simon was -- she hadn’t cleaned a house on her own in something like thirty years and hadn’t cooked for herself in fifteen. She wasn’t going to live with me; I wasn’t going to allow that and I most certainly was not going to let her live in my house. I would willingly pay for the gas in her car, though. She was even going to start working from home -- an option she had had for most of her career but never utilized.

“Okay, here we are,” she murmured, pulling up to the curb.  
“Thanks.”  
“I...uh...how long is your class?”  
“Four hours. You can go home. If I need you sooner, I’ll call you.”

I got out of the car before she could say anything else. She idled at the curb for too long; she was still there when I turned around before entering the building, and didn’t drive off until I was actually in the building. My guess was that she wanted to make sure I actually got in okay. She dropped me off earlier than Simon ever did, and I certainly had never been this early myself on the days I drove myself. I was lucky enough that the days I had class, I was well enough to drive on my own. If I wasn’t well enough to drive myself back home, my car would spend the night in the car park of the university and I’d take a taxi home.

I sat at the benches out of view from anybody else. I’d go into the cafeteria, but they still weren’t letting me in. Over a year later and everyone was still incredibly upset about my Android’s rights paper. I could complain to the dean of the university, but it wasn’t that much of an issue for me even if I was hungry. I was smart enough to remember to pack the homemade snacks Simon and I used to make together. There was never any issues for my blood sugar. Not at school, at least.

When it was finally time to head to class, something felt...off, and then I realized it was because that boy and his friends weren’t around. As annoying and disruptive as they were, and as much as that boy hate Androids, they were pretty good students and were always there. The professor wasn’t there, either. I looked at one of the girls who sat next to me; she looked equally as confused as I was. The professor was always there when we arrived -- _always_. It was in his programming.

“Guys,” I said cautiously, “where’s Josh?”

Some of the other students exchanged glances.

“No, seriously, where is he?” I wondered, looking at the girl next to me. “This is weird.”  
“Something weird is definitely going on,” she replied.

All the students, except for the boy and his friends, were there. None of us were sure what to do; if our human professors were ill, there was a cancellation of the day’s class. But what was the protocol for a missing Android professor? We got our answer when the dean of the university came in.

“I wasn’t sure how to say this in an email,” she admitted. “But this past Friday night, a group of students were found on school property when they were not permitted to be here. They were intoxicated and there was evidence that an Android was damaged. The group was apprehended; however, the PJ500 Android you all know as Josh has been reported missing. Until further notice, the history course is hereby _cancelled_. This will not affect your graduation.”

At the dean’s insistence, we all left the lecture hall. I called Iris to come pick me up, who sounded surprised that I called her so quickly. She was at the front door in thirty minutes and I was still in shock when I got in the car.

“What happened?” she asked as she pulled out of the car park. “All you said was that class was cancelled.”  
“Our professor was an Android,” I stammered. “Er, _is_ an Android. There was this boy who was always teasing me with his friends and...”  
“They had something to do with it?”  
“Iris, I know you don’t think so, but Android’s can feel things.”

She looked at me, sighed, and then shook her head. Of course she didn’t believe me. I almost wanted to take her to see the Jerrys, but I didn’t know how she would react. There was no way I could forgive myself if I ever put them in danger like that. All I did was ask her to drop me off at my house -- I’d be fine on my own for the rest of the day. It was a good day for me, after all.

As soon as she left, though, I immediately got into my own car to go to Pirate’s Cove. I hadn’t seen them in a good while and I wanted to make sure that they were okay. Maybe I was just being paranoid about Josh going missing, but people liked to go hurt the Jerrys. Upon arriving to see them, Iris sent me a message asking if I’d need her in the morning. I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. I was barely past the entrance when one of the Jerrys popped out from between two of the game stalls.

“Mercy!” he said, a big smile on his face. “Why do you look so sad?”  
“I’m not..._sad_, exactly...” I mumbled. “My history professor is... He’s...missing.”  
“Was he an Android, too?”  
“Yeah... I need a hug...”

Jerry pulled me into a tight hug. I had said I needed one, but wasn’t expecting one. Jerry didn’t hug as well as Simon did, but it was still good. It took me a moment to hug him back. We just stood there in the snow for a good few minutes; I was just listening to the soft swishing of his thirium pumping.

“Since your Android isn’t with you anymore, we didn’t expect for you to keep coming to see us after last time,” Jerry admitted when I pulled away. “We’re always happy to see you, but we know you’re sick, so--”  
“Jerry, I like seeing you,” I interrupted. “Sorry.”  
“Sorry for what?”  
“In...Interrupting you...?”  
“Mercy, it’s okay. Really. But...you did come much earlier than you always do...”  
“As soon as Iris dropped me off at home, I came right here. I just...needed to make sure you were okay... Uh, _are_ all of you okay?”  
“No one has come in a while, but we’re always cautious.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets with a sigh. At least the Jerrys were safe for a little while. Some people probably could get bored of hurting anything from fighting back -- well, the Jerrys _could_ fight back if they wanted to. While we were wandering around the park, the one I was talking to grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me behind a game stall before joining me. Just when I was going to ask him just what he thought he was doing, I heard footsteps from the other side of the stall.

I recognized Jerry’s footsteps and these ones sounded heavier. There were sounds coming from what I assumed was a walkie-talkie. Patrols were at random times during the day -- just so no one could watch from afar and understand the routine. But the people who came and hurt the Jerrys were clearly luck -- there had been no news articles about arrests made or people caught trespassing into Pirate’s Cove.

“Sorry,” Jerry said sheepishly when the patrol walked off.  
“I was just startled a bit,” I reassured him.  
“Mercy...what if one of us came to your house to take care of you?”  
“Oh, Jerry, no. No.”  
***

I stayed at Pirate’s Cove until it got dark out. It wasn’t like I had meant to stay all day; it just happened. Not quite ready to head home yet, I decided to just drive around the city for a while. I was on the complete opposite end of the city by the time my hand decided to lose all feeling in it and my chest decided to begin hurting. There was no way I was even able going to make it home like that. I ended up crashing my car into the side of a back alley building. It wasn’t a bad crash, exactly, but it definitely left a good dent on the side of my car. The impact had been strong enough to jab me hard in my side. It was going to leave a gnarly bruise.

It had been a while since more than one symptom had presented itself at the same time. I was barely out of my car before a nosebleed happened. If I went into the motel, whoever was at the front desk would think I was on drugs. There wasn’t much else to do. If it wasn’t the middle of winter, I would have just waited my nosebleed and lack of strength out and drove my car into the car park and stayed warm there. I should have called Iris to retrieve me, but then I wouldn’t be able to escape her scolding, and that wasn’t something that I wanted to deal with.

Once my nosebleed was dealt with, I wandered around the corner to the abandoned car park. It was attached to an abandoned building on the other side. At least in there I’d be warm and no one would accuse me of being on drugs; there was a chimney, so that meant a fireplace. If I had to set something on fire to keep warm, I would. The only issue was the fence. There were no apparent holes to crawl through. I was clearly making excuses for myself just so I wouldn’t have to be scrutinized. I hadn’t gone over a fence since I was a child, and so, after psyching myself up, I ran at the fence and jumped it.

The landing wasn’t good. The impact from hitting the ground didn’t sit well and the pain in my side worsened. Still, I ignored the pain as best I could and wandered around the side of the house to try and find the front door. The windows were boarded up; I had to wonder how long the place had been abandoned. Or had it foreclosed? I hadn’t been on this side of the city before and from driving around, I hadn’t seen many residential houses. It looked like the run down apartments were going to be knocked down eventually, too -- there was a giant sign talking about brand new buildings in the next couple of years.

I found the front door, but it was locked. I rolled my eyes at myself; why would it be unlocked? There was no other way inside from what I could see and I wasn’t about to jump the fence again to change my mind and go to the motel. If Dr Young had seen what I was doing, she was probably the one who would have needed the hospital more than me. I was doing things she never would have allowed me to do. Inhaling sharply, I ran at the door and used all my weight to get it open. It worked, but now my shoulder was in pain and it felt like I was going to faint.

I kicked the door shut behind me. Wincing, I looked around at what appeared to used to be the living room. Just like I had guessed, there was a fireplace on the other side of the room. I almost made it to the other side of the room before stumbling and needing to lean on the table for support. The day had been so good -- why did my disease feel like flaring up? The jumping of the fence and the barging at the door obviously hadn’t helped, but I wouldn’t have needed to do it if it had just left me alone. I whimpered when I tried to move; it was almost impossible. If I just stood still for a few moments, maybe then I’d be okay to walk around.

There was a sudden presence behind me, though. The house was abandoned, that much was obvious -- but it was only abandoned by its original owners. Why would I be the first one to decide to hop a fence and seek shelter? I had no strength to try and fight someone off or grab one of the chairs to toss it or flip the table. For all I knew it was just someone wanting to see what I wanted, but it also could have been someone who meant harm. I had remembered to bring my bag with me -- perhaps I could just throw it at whoever to buy me enough time to explain _why_ I was in the house.

I turned around quickly with every intent to at least whip my bag at whoever it was. My prosthetic was gripping the top of it, ready for me to actually use it as some sort of weapon, when I stopped. An LED. Who it was...was an Android?

“Mercy?!”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

I loosened the grip on my bag; this Android knew my name? Had he seen me on TV when I had my interview? He was covered in darkness; the street lamps weren’t coming through far enough so I could see him. I just knew where he was standing because of the LED. He stepped closer into the light; his model was clearly a WR600, but he was badly... Were those burn marks on his face? Even parts of his arms didn’t have skin because he couldn’t reactivate it. He was even twitching.

“Burns...” I mumbled to myself. “Ralph?”  
“Mercy remembers Ralph?” he asked. “Good.”  
I tried to move closer to him. “I’ve been worried sick about--”  
“No touching!” His demand had come out as a shout and it was only then that I realized he was holding a knife. “There will be no touching Ralph.”

Never mind the fact he was speaking in third person; what had completely happened to him? He was clearly horrified of me. That only made my worry worse. The twitching, the deactivated skin, the burn marks, the thirium leak... But if he didn’t want me to move closer to him, then I wouldn’t. It was so obvious the knife was meant to defend himself should anything bad happen.

“Okay,” I said gently. “No touching.”  
“The last time a human touched Ralph...” He gestured to his face, “Ralph got hurt.”

I thought back to that day. I’d touched his face gently, so whoever had touched him last had been the one to burn him. He hadn’t broken through his coding yet, which meant... I inhaled sharply to hold back tears. If I asked him what had happened, would he tell me? From how much it sounded like he didn’t trust me, I doubted it. But then again, if he didn’t trust me, why did he lower the knife?

“Ralph, I’m sorry,” I whispered.  
“Mercy didn’t hurt him,” he replied. “But she’s a human, too, and humans like hurting Androids.”  
“I would never--”  
“No! Don’t lie -- don’t you _dare lie_ to Ralph!”

I jumped. Even if I was glad to know Ralph was alive, I was horrified at how he had turned out to be. It was understandable to not want to be hurt by anyone ever again, but did he honestly believe that I would hurt him? If he thought I was going to hurt him, maybe it was best that I just endured the pain I would feel and hop the fence to get back to my car?

“I’ll leave,” I suggested quietly.  
“No -- you’ll just go and tell someone else that Ralph is here,” he said, angry.

I barely managed to move when I had wanted to move closer to him. There was a back door, right? There had to be. But I didn’t want to run away from him if I didn’t have to. He was scaring me, but he was also so clearly afraid, too. I was conflicted. I tried to turn back around, but I moved uncomfortably and ended up hurting myself -- there was definitely a broken rib. The pain was still so great I fell to the floor. This caused Ralph to take a big step back.

I didn’t expect him to understand or help me back to my feet. The times I had gone to see him at the park, I hadn’t once told him I was ill. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him with that kind if information; it was just that I was more interested in hearing about his work. Ralph’s LED turned red when I tried to get back up, but I couldn’t. I reached up and gripped the edge of the table. Enduring the pain, I pulled myself to my feet. I leaned against it, fighting back tears.

“Why did you do that?” Ralph asked.  
“Do what?” I sniffled.  
“It never took Mercy so long to get up before.”

I’d slipped on ice and wet grass plenty of times when visiting him at the park. Getting up in front of him hadn’t been hard to do since I’d visited him on good days. Even then I hadn’t expected him to help me to my feet. He had no social graces, even then. I didn’t want to scare him any further than he already was.

“It’s nothing,” I stammered. “I’m sorry.”  
“You’re not allowed to lie!” he snapped.

I jumped, which just made the pain worse. Moving a strand of hair out of my face, I turned to look at him again. His LED flashed red twice before it returned to yellow.

“Ralph, I’m dying,” I told him.  
“No... No, you’re not!” He really didn’t understand. “Dying involves blood and Ralph sees no blood!”  
“Please, just calm down. Let me explain.”  
“Why? So you can lie again?!”

He was so angry -- so very, incredibly angry. A blind rage, really. Whoever had hurt him...it couldn’t have just been anyone. He had his knife raised -- he didn’t want to be touched, but there was no other way to make him believe that I wasn’t going to hurt him or go to anyone else who could hurt him. I grabbed his other arm with my prosthetic. Whatever skin he had on his forearm deactivated when mine did and he didn’t continue bringing down his knife.

From the second Timothy had come home with blue blood on his shoes to the moment that I found out Ralph was missing, I showed him. Our visits together and everything I ever thought about him were given to him. My constant worrying if he was safe or not, or whether he was even alive. The anger and sadness I felt when I thought it was my fault he was missing. Even now, I couldn’t help but blame myself. I shouldn’t have left him alone in the park. I loved him dearly and I needed him to know that I would never harm him.

Then I showed him how sick I was. The car accidents, the days I couldn’t manage to get out of bed, the lack of appetite... Everything, even the doctor’s visits. I should have told him long ago about what was wrong with me. But he so clearly was like Simon or the Jerrys; he was different from no social graces. It was even hurting me just to be in the position I was.

It had only been less than twenty seconds that I managed to show him everything I needed to. His LED was flashing red by the time I was finished; the shock caused him to drop the knife. I let him go so I could press my side.

“I’m sorry,” I panted. “Ralph, I’m so sorry.”  
“You...really don’t want to hurt Ralph?”  
“Never. Even if you decided to do something with that knife of yours,” I inhaled sharply, “then I wanted you to at least understand that I could never hurt you.”  
“No more touching.”

I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement; either way, I shook my head. The pain in my side was bad. Very bad. I really should have high tailed it out of the abandoned house to get to the hospital, but I didn’t want to leave Ralph alone. If I was there, then maybe if someone else had an idea to come I could at least try and get rid of them for him. I’d leave for sure in the morning, lest Iris have a heart attack to discover I was in a very rundown area.

“Can I stay and leave in the morning?” I breathed.  
“Leave?” He twitched. “The last time Mercy left Ralph--”  
“I’m gonna need the hospital.”  
“But Ralph could take care of you.”

I swallowed hard. He sounded serious, albeit excited. It would take him some convincing to let me go in the morning. I was going to deal with that road when I got to it; for now I was exhausted and only wanted and needed to rest. A headache was creeping up on me, even.

“Ralph will start a fire,” he told me. “It’s fine if he does it himself; he won’t burn himself.”

I watched as he moved around the room, gathering loose wood and a box of matches. Where he had learned how to start a fire, I didn’t know, but at least he knew what he was doing. Once he was finished, that I wandered over to the fireplace. I removed my jacket and folded it up to make a pillow.

“Thank you,” I murmured.  
“Ralph will keep watch!” he said excitedly.  
***

In the morning, I awoke with the pain worsening in my side. I needed to get to the hospital immediately. Upon standing, I realized Ralph wasn’t around. I had to tell him I had to leave, but that I would be back as soon as I was able. I shrugged my jacket on and when to look in what used to be the kitchen first -- luckily he was in there, but he was using his knife to carve rA9 into the wall. “I’m alive” was written sporadically, too. I didn’t want to scare him by walking up behind him, and so I knocked on the wall.

“You’re awake!” he mused when he turned around.  
“I need to go to the hospital,” I told him.  
“What? No--”  
“As soon as I’m fixed up, I’ll come see you again, okay? I promise.”  
“You’ll come alone.”  
“Ralph, you know I would never do anything to hurt you.”

I wanted to hug him goodbye, but there wasn’t going to be anymore touching unless he decided it was okay. He turned back to the wall and continued to carve. After retrieving my bag, I decided to head out the door that was in the kitchen.

“I’ll come back soon,” I promised.  
“Ralph wants to come with you,” he admitted. “But the humans...”  
“I know.”

I left the house and threw my bag over the fence. Inhaling sharply, I ran at the fence and once again jumped it. It was painful, but I had to endure it. The hospital wouldn’t be able to do all that much for me; check my ribs, check my vitals, and then send me off with some powerful medication. They’d tell me to rest up and not to do anything too physically demanding. At least with the medication I’d be able to jump the fence without feeling like I was going to pass out. Well, I had told Ralph I’d be back “soon”. If I gave myself a couple days to just calm down and give my ribs a break, then I would definitely have no problems spending more time with him.

“What did you do to break a rib?” the doctor inquired as she showed me my x-rays.  
“I drove my car--”  
“You’re not supposed to be driving! I told you this months ago.” She sighed and shook her head. “Where’s your Android?”

Could people go one day without asking about Simon? It hurt enough and was lonely enough without needing to be reminded that he wasn’t around anymore. I didn’t answer her; I just looked at the floor with my hand resting on my side. If he knew I was back in the hospital... I didn’t know what he would think. He made it clear that he didn’t like it when I got hurt and he definitely wouldn’t like it that I went against the doctor’s orders and drove my car. It was my first accident in a long time; I didn’t think it was _that_ bad.

“Well, at least it’s only one rib,” the doctor mentioned. “But it will still most likely take about two months for it to heal.”

There had to be an easier way to get into the abandoned house, then. If I cut a hole in the fence, would Ralph get mad at me? He had to leave every now and then, didn’t he? He had a leak, even if it was small, and had to replenish the thirium somehow. Of course, Ralph would have had no problem jumping the fence every time he came and went.

I called Iris to come and get me, but she was going to have to take the bus. She hated it, but I wasn’t going to keep my car in the parking lot. It had to get back to my house _somehow_. Of course, she was furious when she got to the hospital.

“What’s wrong with you?” she snapped. “You could have died!”  
“I’m only making the process quicker,” I muttered.  
“Mercy!”  
“I’m sorry! With Josh missing and Simon gone, I needed to take my mind off things! You don’t get it, Iris.” I pulled open the passenger side door open and climbed in.  
“No, I don’t get it.” She opened the driver’s side door. “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want your Android to come home.”  
“I’m not arguing with you; there’s no point.”  
“I can’t take care of you if you don’t let me.”

I leaned my head against the window as she pulled out of the car park. Wherever Simon was, I hoped he was safe and sound.

“Iris, where’s Timothy?” I wondered.

I’d not heard a peep out of him since he got out of jail and with Simon gone I didn’t need to think of Timothy coming around to hurt him.

“He moved out of the family home,” Iris admitted. “We’re in the midst of getting a divorce.”  
“Why can’t you just be divorced?”  
“He’s putting up a fight.”

I left it at that. I knew why Timothy was putting up a fight; he saw no problems with almost killing me because I was an Android-lover. I just didn’t understand why he couldn’t just be kept in jail. The rich could get away with so much more than a middle class person could. If I weren’t so dead set on being a journalist and if my health weren’t so bad, I would have considered entering the force instead. I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually all the police officers in the city were replaced with Androids.

At my house, I went directly to the bathroom for a shower while Iris attempted to make breakfast again. I had to shout from the bathroom for her to remember not to use salt. If she was going to be taking care of me, did she need to know about my prosthetic? Did she need to know what was going to happen? Somehow, even though she was trying to make up twenty years of neglect, I thought she might change her mind to taking care of me if she knew I’d eventually be...not human.

I hadn’t seen the bruise when I was in the hospital, but I managed to see it after stepping out of the shower. It scaled up most of my midriff. It was definitely gnarly, to say the least. The amount of pain I was in was justified. Rolling my eyes at Iris’ call that the food was ready, I slipped on my robe. She had no idea what to make for me and ended up going through the recipe cards Simon and I had made together. The effort was there.

The taste was not.  
***

Ralph was just climbing the fence to get back into the abandoned house when I wandered into the parking lot. I had no idea how I was going to make myself known without scaring him. He turned right around when I cleared my throat.

“Don’t scare Ralph like that!” he snapped.

Well, there it was. I’d scared him anyway.

“I’m really sorry,” I replied.  
“Come in.”  
“I brought wire cutters from home.” I pulled the tool out of my bag. “Could I cut a hole in the fence?”

Ralph looked at the fence and then back at me, back at the fence, and then back at me. At least he wasn’t yelling about how I couldn’t do that. Technically, I couldn’t do that. I shouldn’t do that. But I wanted to and needed to. It’d make it easier on both of us if there was just a hole in the fence.

“Why?” he wondered.  
“I can’t be hopping fences right now with a broken rib. Look, I can do it behind that bush so no one knows there’s a hole to crawl through.”

Ralph took the wire cutters away from me and looked at them for a moment. After, he hopped the fence and then wandered over to where the fence met with the bush I had been talking about. I had no idea what he was doing until he crouched down and began tossing twigs aside. I walked over to the fence and leaned against it to see what he was really doing. He’d cleared the area of twigs and was now clipping the parts of the bush that protruded to the other side. A few minutes later, he cut the corner of the fence high enough for me to crawl through.

“Thanks,” I sighed as I stood back up.  
“These are like pruning sheers,” Ralph said, handing the wire cutters back to me.  
“Will the bush be okay?”  
“Yes. They’ll grow back in the spring; Ralph cut them at forty-five degrees.”

We went into the house and I sat in front of the fireplace. It wasn’t lit, but the chairs didn’t look all that comfortable. Well, maybe they were more comfortable than the floor -- but not much more comfortable. I pulled out the peach I had brought with me to munch on.

“Those aren’t in season,” Ralph said just as I was biting through it.  
I sighed and finished taking my bite. “UFD grew them in a greenhouse.”  
“Are they good?”  
“UFD or the fruit?”  
“Peaches.”  
I swallowed hard, looking at the peach. “Well...it’s _succulent_, to say the least.”

Ralph looked confused at my statement. He twitched as he thought about it for a long moment. He sat down next to me, still visibly confused as to what I had meant.

“Are you okay?” I asked.  
“Peaches aren’t a succulent.”  
“Oh. Ralph, this is a different kind. You’re thinking of the plants, right? Like aloe vera. Food that humans eat, like fruit or meat, are succulent.”  
“What does it mean?”  
“Tender and juicy.”  
He said the word slowly a few times. “S...ucc...u...lent... Succ...u...lent... Succ...ulent... Succulent. Mercy--”

My phone began ringing; it wasn’t all that loud, but Ralph jumped. His LED turned red. He didn’t like loud sounds. I declined the call as quickly as I could and turned the vibration on instead. Ralph looked quite angry and spooked at what had just happened.

“Sorry; I’m sorry,” I huffed. “I didn’t realize... Er... Oh. I can’t do that.”  
“Do what?” Ralph stuck the poker into the fireplace to stoke it.  
“Hug you.”  
“Why would Mercy want to hug Ralph?”  
“Usually when people are upset, a hug can make them feel a bit better. I don’t know what happened to you other than the fact you got burned, but I understand why you don’t want to be touched.”

Ralph continued to poke the wood inside the fireplace without speaking. After I finished up the peach and discarded it outside, I looked at who had actually called me. Of course the only time I didn’t answer the phone is when someone important called me. Dr Chase. I stood in the corner of the living room, by the staircase, while I called him back. The other prosthetic arm was ready for me whenever I wanted it. I scheduled myself to have it in two days’ time and then went back to sit down with Ralph.

“Give Ralph your hand,” he said.  
“Which one?”  
He grabbed my prosthetic. “This one.”

Ralph deactivated whatever skin he had on his forearm and caused mine to deactivate. His grip wasn’t that strong; it was barely there since he didn’t really want to touch me. Even so, he showed me how he had gotten hurt. I’d known there had been fire involved; how else would he have gotten burned? I realized, though, why he hadn’t trusted me initially.

He had trusted that teenage boy with the dog who came and saw him everyday. That boy had made Ralph believe that they were friends. Ralph had got to pet the dog and feed him treats; he had even got to meet the boy’s girlfriend. The night I hadn’t wanted to leave him alone, that boy had come back late at night. He wasn’t alone, though he wasn’t with his girlfriend or his dog. Even if they were supposedly friends, Ralph had told him they couldn’t be in the park so late.

There was no point in him trying to get the boy and his friends to leave, as was found out. There were only three of them, but, as most humans knew, Androids couldn’t fight back. Two of the boys held Ralph down, just by the shoulders, as the boy who was supposed to be his friends doused him in gasoline. It wasn’t until then that Ralph’s software told him that he was in danger. By the time he was able to break through his coding and fight back, it was almost too late and a match was thrown at him.

There was kicking and panicked screaming. The skin on his arms wasn’t able to reactivate itself because he had used his hands to put the fire out. Most of the damage had been made to his face. Even when trying to put the fire out, the boys continuously tried to reset him on fire. Ralph wasn’t able to get away until he was able to kick his so-called friend back and knocked the other two to their feet. He seized the chance and ran away from the park.

Ralph found the abandoned house not too long after he ran away. He had run like a bat flew out of hell. His hearing was more sensitive, as were his touch receptors. He was scared and alone, but he deemed that necessary -- he wasn’t going to go outside unless he absolutely had to. Everyday, he could hear humans yelling at each other -- it was frustrating at first, but every now and again he’d be able to drown them out. But the car horns were another story. He couldn’t stand loud and unnecessary sounds.

The scent of burning plastic was still so strong in his memory -- and now I was able to smell it; I was able to even feel just how scared he was, how betrayed he had felt. No wonder he hadn’t trusted me -- he still didn’t fully trust me and was unsure if he could ever really trust me again.

Ralph pulled away from me once I began sobbing. Those feelings were so overwhelming and they weren’t even mine. But just feeling how he felt... It was almost like I couldn’t breathe. The twitching he did wasn’t just from his hearing and touch receptors being damaged -- the grand majority of it was because he was still horrified.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

I wandered into the abandoned house, hugging the plant I was bringing for Ralph to my chest. He was standing by the staircase, looking up and twitching. I’d knocked before I came in, but he didn’t seem to notice I was there. I set the plant on the table with a sigh. Whatever he was preoccupied with, it seemed important, but I had to make myself known otherwise--

“Mercy!” he exclaimed as he turned around. “When did you get here?”  
“Just now,” I replied. “Is everything okay?”  
“Yes, yes, everything is fine -- Ralph is fine; why wouldn’t Ralph be fine?”

I looked at the stairs and then back at him. There was no point in trying to push for a proper answer; if he didn’t want to tell me, then he didn’t have to tell me. I’d been coming to see him every couple of days for a few months already. He’d gotten better about brandishing his knife around when I was with him -- it wasn’t socially acceptable, I had told him, but as long as he didn’t hurt himself it was fine. He had taken that as me saying I was scared he would hurt me and hid the knife from sight. This time around, I had brought him the plant as a gift -- I’d told him about gifts the last time I had spent the night with him and didn’t want him to feel left out.

“You’re always saying how you miss gardening,” I mumbled as he picked the plant up from the table. “It’s not a garden, exactly, but...”  
“This needs heat, some water, and only a little bit of sunshine,” he replied. “Ralph can take care of it!”  
“So...you like it, then?”  
“Ralph likes it.” He quickly pecked my cheek with his lips and wandered into the kitchen. “Ralph will take good care of it!”

I touched my cheek, biting the inside of it. That had been...unexpected. When he came back out, he frowned.

“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked.  
“Ralph went outside the other night and saw humans doing it to each other,” he told me. “Is Ralph not allowed to do that?”  
“N-No, you can do it... I was just curious. Just...sometimes you have to ask people if you can do that.”  
“Oh. But Ralph doesn’t know what it’s called.” He twitched. “What do humans call it?”  
“It’s a type of kiss.” I pulled out my laptop and set it on the table. “They do that when they care about someone.”  
“The lady said ‘thank you’ before she kissed the man. Hmph.”

Ralph got lonely in the abandoned house; even if he never said it was so, I saw it on his face when I left and I saw the excitement when I came back. I didn’t know if he had any more run-ins with people wanting to spend their time in the house, but he never mentioned so. He willingly spent his time with me. The touching was still off limits, unless he instigated it himself. There was one time when I was falling asleep next to him and accidentally rested my head on his shoulder. He had screamed at me about no touching and woke me right up. Horrifying? Yes. Justifiable? Also yes.

“Why do humans like touching each other?” Ralph asked as I sat down at the table.  
“That’s a good question,” I replied, beginning to type. “For most, it’s just natural to want to be touched. Some don’t like to be touched. Sometimes, the lonelier a person is the stronger the want is.”  
“Is Mercy the same?”

I stopped typing and stared at the laptop screen. What did he mean by that question? Was he asking if I was the same as him and didn’t want to be touched or didn’t like to be touched? Or was he asking if I did want to be? Obviously my sense of touch wasn’t that strong anymore in my hands and arms since now I had both prosthetics, but I still liked the shove my hands in dirt or hold Jerry’s hand. The only human I ever touched was Iris, and it was her doing most of the touching by grabbed my arm or pulling me by the hand.

“I...like touching,” I admitted slowly, looking at him. “I’m usually the one who does the touching, though.”  
“But no one touches Mercy?”  
“I mean...Iris does, but not lovingly, and there’s the Jerrys -- sometimes there’s a hug and hand holding, but that’s it.”  
“What about the Android that lives with you?”  
I hadn’t told him that Simon had left. “He used to hug me when I was upset and I held his hand when we were in crowded places.”  
“‘Used to’?” Ralph twitched. “That means he doesn’t do it anymore?”  
“He left me a few months ago. I wanted him to be able to make choices for himself and he made a big choice.”  
“That means you’re lonely.”  
“Uh... No, I don’t...I don’t think so... I have the Jerrys and I have you.”

Ralph didn’t look too happy with my answer. He was probably thinking that it wasn’t the same -- and it _wasn’t_. The Jerrys had offered one of themselves to take care of me, but I had so obviously declined. Taking care of me would have upset them more in the long run; not being able to drive or cook would have left room for disappointment. I knew they could clean, but they had only ever cleaned outside, not inside. Even if they wanted to help me, Pirate’s Cove was their home and I knew that the Jerry I took home would miss it. He would still be able to experience Pirate’s Cove, but it wasn’t the same as _really_ being there, was it? I still didn’t fully understand the hive mind.

“Mercy isn’t lying, right?” Ralph asked. “You’re not really lonely?”  
“I’m not lying,” I replied. “It’s just...I don’t _think_ I’m lonely...”  
“You like being around Ralph?”  
“Of course I do.”

Ralph wandered into the kitchen; a few moments later I heard the front door shut. It was night already and dark enough for him to wander around. He was probably going to get some more thirium for his leak, something he did only once every couple of months. His leak was slow enough that it wasn’t completely detrimental and luckily he was responsible enough to replenish before he absolutely had to. There was a junkyard full of Android’s not too far from where the abandoned house was; I could only assume that’s where he went. I’d only ever seen the place from afar -- it freaked me out and so I couldn’t imagine just how scary it must have been for Ralph to see it up close.

He came back after a few hours, just when I was falling asleep at my laptop. The slamming of the back door was what really woke me up. Ralph was mumbling to himself, but stopped when he walked through the kitchen door.

“Everything okay?” I asked.  
“Is Ralph still handsome?” he wondered.  
“I... I beg your pardon?”  
He sighed and gestured to his face, slightly annoyed. “Mercy said that Ralph was handsome one time. Is he still handsome?”  
“I think so.”  
“What--”  
Before he could continue screaming, I had to reiterate. “Ralph, even if other people don’t think you’re handsome, _I_ still think you’re handsome.”

Ralph then looked a bit embarrassed that he had almost yelled at me. It had been my fault; I hadn’t been clear enough and it had confused him. Confusion led to anger and anger led to things that Ralph didn’t particularly like doing.

“Better,” he mumbled, but then shook his head. “Mercy still loves Ralph, though, right?”  
“You know I do,” I claimed.  
“But what if Mercy really _doesn’t_ anymore? She tells him all the time, but...”  
“How do you want me to prove it?”

It took him a moment to gather up the courage to walk over to me, and it took him an even longer moment to grab one of my prosthetics and place my hand on his damaged cheek.

“Show Ralph like this,” he requested.

I deactivated my skin and gave him what he wanted. True, I always did tell him I cared about him and that I loved him. But I could understand why he doubted it; he’d been hurt and he told me that the other people who came to stay in the abandoned house, if they saw him, screamed when they saw him or tried to hurt him. It wasn’t his fault he looked the way he did.

“Can Mercy show Ralph that more often?” he asked.  
“Of course.”

I took my hand away, but he immediately held it with both of his. It took him a moment, but he showed me something in return.

Ralph was confused. He had feelings he didn’t understand -- missing me when I was gone, feeling like his thirium regular was going to break every time he saw me... I couldn’t tell him what those feelings meant even though I wanted to. They were so clearly similar to the feelings I felt about him.

“It’s scary for Ralph,” he admitted, letting my hand go.  
“Love is a scary thing,” I replied. “Things people don’t understand... They’re scary. I barely understand them myself.”  
“Ralph is scared humans will hurt him again and Ralph is scared of being lonely and--”  
“Hey, hey, listen to me. Give me your hand again.” He gave me his hand and I continued speaking. “If I’m not here and you get scared or lonely,” I deactivated my skin, “you can come to my home. Okay?”  
***

_ **Two years later** _

Iris had gotten a promotion at work and could no longer care for me. She didn’t give me much of a choice when she dragged me to the Cyberlife store. That guy Thompson was _still_ working there and appeared to be rather surprised that I was there. It had been just over four years since I had been in the place to bring Simon home -- it was weird that he even remembered me. Surely I wasn’t the only customer to give him somewhat of a hard time.

“The PL600 finally give out?” he asked.  
“Iris, I wanna leave,” I immediately demanded.  
“We’re not leaving until you find another Android,” Iris snapped.  
“The new AP700 Android just came out three days ago,” Thompson informed me.  
“I know,” I muttered. “I haven’t been able to go anywhere for months without seeing the ‘coming soon’ signs.”  
“Go look. Now.” Iris gently pushed me toward the middle of the store.

I really didn’t want to be there. There were other people in the store, obviously, and some of them had looked at me like they knew who I was. Hopefully they could tell by the look on my face that I really hated the Cyberlife store. But we weren’t going to leave until I found an Android to take home, according to Iris. She’d lectured me about it all the way to the store. I turned and looked at her; she didn’t look comfortable, either, but for a completely different reason.

“Iris, I really don’t think--” I began, but stopped.

What was the point in making an Android that had the exact same face as another model? The advertisements only showed three different faces -- there had never been any indication that something like this would be the case. Not many people still had PL600s to begin with and it was rare to even see one out on the street with their owners. Maybe it was for the people who liked the face of PL600 models but wanted a newer Android. Even looking around, there were AP700s that looked like WR600 models or EM400 models. Androids that looked like the Jerrys model were more popular, though, since those ones worked as food workers. My nerves were wracked and it didn’t help when Thompson wandered over to me so he could help.

“This the one you want?” he asked.  
“No,” I immediately protested. “No, it’s just...”  
“I read that paper you wrote and watched your segment.”  
I exhaled sharply. “Of course you did. Iris has been taking care of me since my Android is no longer around and she got a promotion at work.” I looked at him. “If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be here. I’ll take him.”

I wandered over to an Android and grabbed his hand. He was one of the base AP700 models. Iris wandered over slowly.

“This one?” she asked. “Are you sure?”  
“Iris...” I sighed.  
“Okay, okay... There’s one that looks like Simon--”  
“_Mother--_” I stopped talking for a moment, upset. “Iris.”

I called the Android Ken. He looked liked the life-size and human version of those dolls that were so popular. Iris just wanted to leave the area and take me back home, but I refused. I needed to buy clothes for him. Even when she suggested that he just wear the clothes I had at home, I still refused -- the basis being that those clothes were Simon’s clothes. Even if he wasn’t with me, those clothes were meant for Simon and only Simon.

“Will you be taking it to work with you?” Iris asked as we walked into a clothing shop.  
“I...don’t know...” I replied.

There was nothing that Iris and I could reach that weren’t slacks. Ken ended up having to grab the things I was buying for him. It felt so weird clothes shopping for an Android again. I’d once suggested to Ralph that I buy him a new set of clothes, but he ended up yelling at me about how his clothes were fine. I hoped that if Ken realized he was alive he would be kind. He _had_ to be kind if I was taking him to work with me. I’d managed to be hired right out of university for a popular online journal and I was permitted to work freelance, like I wanted, and I did some occasional writing for the companies in Stratford Tower. I only ever had to go to the office for the online journal once a week for meetings and I went into the Tower whenever they needed me there or whenever I needed to retrieve things from my office. Otherwise I only ever worked from home.

“And you were complaining that you would never need photography,” Iris teased.  
“I don’t need it all the time,” I grumbled, taking the shirts Ken had grabbed from him.  
“I’m not carrying them?” Ken asked.  
“No, no. Don’t worry about it.”  
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t get the one that looks like Simon,” Iris admitted.  
“Simon’s not replaceable or expendable. I had this talk with him way before he left. Can we change the subject? Please?”  
“Fine. Um...” Iris thought for a moment. “When are you doing that interview?”  
“The Phillips interview? That’s tomorrow. They live on the seventieth floor, too. I just hope they don’t suggest going out onto the terrace.”  
“What are you interviewing them for again?”  
“I’m interviewing John. It’s about staying rich in an economy like ours.”

Iris and I exchanged glances. I stayed rich since my grandmother had given me a boost and Iris stayed rich because her company still only ever hired humans.

“At least I won’t be alone,” I mumbled, grabbing a pair of shoes for Ken. “Other journalists will be there. Er, Ken?”  
“Do you need me to reach something else?” he inquired.  
“Are you okay coming to work with me or do you want to stay home?”  
“Mercy, not in public!” Iris whisper-hissed.  
My tone came out mocking. “‘_Mercy, not in public_.’”  
“Do you want me to come with you?” Ken asked.  
“That’s not what I asked.”  
“I’ll come with you.”  
“He should be going with you to work anyway just in case something happens,” Iris told me.

We both looked at Ken again; he was staring at me intently. He must have caught on to Iris’ panic and realized something was wrong with me and decided to scan me. The only issue with his scanning was that he was going to find out that my arms were like his and not human. He opened his mouth to say something, but I immediately began shaking my head at him. Luckily by that time Iris was walking toward the cash registers.

“This should be enough for now,” she said.  
“We can talk when we get home and after Iris has left,” I murmured, grabbing Ken’s hand.

Since he already had my payment details, he was able to pay for everything before I could even get my cards out. We’d walked over to the shop from the Cyberlife store, but Iris had parked a few blocks away. She walked off to go grab her car, leaving Ken and I waiting.

“You don’t seem to want me much,” he noted.  
I looked up at him. “If it comes off that way, I’m sorry.”

When Iris showed up, I got into the backseat -- Ken had originally been heading for the backseat himself, but I insisted he sit in the front. Iris didn’t say much on the way back home. She seemed eager to get my a new Android to take care of me, but she seemed reluctant that she wouldn’t get to see me as much. We had both gotten so used to being around each other that it was probably going to be weird for her to go right to the office in the mornings. I didn’t know how weird it was going to be for me to wake up in the mornings only to remember an Android was caring for me again.

At home, Iris helped me put Ken’s clothes away -- I made sure she put them in the other closet, away from Simon’s clothes. Within minutes of her mentioning she was going to get me a new Android, I had gone into the closet that wasn’t being used and moved the boxes in there to my own closet. Simon and I both had our own closets in my room and it was only fair Ken did, too. Ken was wandering the house, familiarizing himself with everything -- even cleaning along the way. What had seemed spotless to Iris wasn’t spotless to him. We found Ken coming back in from outside when we were done putting his clothes away. He’d just taken the trash out.

“There are some meals that are prepped in the fridge and the freezer,” Iris told him. “Take care of her, okay? Don’t let her do anything stupid.”  
“I understand,” he replied.

He shut and locked the door behind her. Now it was just awkward. It was unusual to have an Android in my house again.

“You don’t have to do everything,” I told him. “You’re just...here to help me.”  
“She said to take care of you,” he noted.  
“You don’t have to listen to her, either...” I shook my head. “What were you going to say earlier?”  
“I wasn’t able to scan your arms. Typically, I should have been able to, but I wasn’t even able to detect them.”  
“Were you specifically looking for human flesh and bones?”  
“Blood flow, as well.”  
“I’m sorry that I interrupted you, but Iris still doesn’t know about my arms.”

I deactivated the skin on both arms and showed him. His LED turned yellow. Of course he wasn’t going to completely understand right away why I had prosthetics that could be manipulated like an Android’s arms. He just looked at me, appearing confused.

“I can give you my medical files, but they’re pretty thick,” I admitted.  
“Are you able to interface, Mercy?” he wondered. “I would be able to get enough information through that method.”  
“I can do that. Can you give me your hand, please?”  
***

“Oh, my God, what is that?” one of the other journalists asked when I stepped off the elevator.  
“Ken is my Android,” I replied sourly.  
“I thought you didn’t believe in owning Androids,” the other asked.   
“The lady who was taking care of me can’t take care of me anymore, okay? So she got me Ken. He won’t bother you if you don’t bother him.”

I was there to interview John; the other two were there to interview Caroline. Why one lady needed two journalists was beyond me. Caroline came and retrieved me so I could meet with John. Ken wandered behind me. Of course we were going to be on the terrace. As long as John didn’t suggest walking around, I would be fine. No way was I going to be able to look out at the city while standing on the edge of it. Not only was that dangerous, but seeing how high up we really were would cause me to panic. The panic at Pirate’s Cove with Christie and Nolan was one thing -- this would be something else completely.

“Mercy Greene, I presume,” John said when I stepped outside.  
“Hello,” I replied. “Nice to meet you. This is my Android, Ken -- is it okay if he joins us?”  
“That’s not a problem. Please, have a seat. Would you like something to drink? Daniel!”  
“Oh, no, that’s al--”

I screamed and almost dropped my camera. Daniel was a PL600 and I could only assume that he was the same one I had seen in the hotel so long ago. Because it had gotten so rare to see a PL600, I hadn’t expected to see one -- especially from someone so rich. Then again, I shouldn’t have judged so quickly -- if I remembered correctly, there was a child that he must have been taking care of -- Emma. It would be quite hard to get rid of an Android that a child was so used to being around and getting a different one.

Both Ken and Daniel’s LEDs had turned red at my scream, and John had gotten startled.

“Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry,” I panted. “That was so unwarranted.”  
“I can offer you something strong,” John suggested.  
“No, no, thank you. I’m sorry.”

He sent Daniel back off to go check on Emma and we were able to go ahead with the interview. My boss had given me questions she wanted me to ask John. It wasn’t too soon after we began that I found myself getting bored. Why did people want to know how he balanced out such a hard work schedule and a family? From what I understood by his explanations, there was hardly any time for family. One of the questions was about his owning an Android -- Emma spent most of her time with Daniel, it seemed. I didn’t know what it was like with Caroline; John was almost never home. I had understood when I got the job that I wasn’t going to enjoy everything, but this was on a whole other level of no enjoyment.

I was so thankful for the interview being over and getting what I needed. A lot of the time, I was told, people who I interviewed may have wanted to know more about me. John was no exception.

“I read that paper of yours,” he mentioned. “Your Android’s Rights one.”  
“My pride and joy,” I replied.

It was not my pride and joy. It had been one of the things that almost got Simon hurt.

“We also watched your segment,” he continued. “I thought it was a PL600 you owned.”  
“I haven’t had Simon for a while,” I admitted slowly. “Things...changed.”  
“Wasn’t it said in your segment that you needed it?”  
“My mother was taking care of me after Simon was no longer around. She recently got a promotion at work and decided it was time for me to get a new Android.”  
“The new AP700?”  
“Yeah... I’m sorry for screaming earlier.”  
“You already apologized; it’s okay.”

Ken and I were going to take our leave, but the other two journalists and their equipment were blocking the way to leave. John insisted I wait in the kitchen for them to finish up. Ken stood with me as I watched them pretend they were interested in what Caroline had to say. The things she was saying were not interesting in the slightest. I caught one of them stifling a yawn when she looked away at one point. I was distracted by the sound of a drawer shutting behind me. Emma was standing next to Daniel as he made her food. She wasn’t exactly standing still, though -- she was slightly hopping up and down excitedly.

She ran off with the plate Daniel gave her when he was done. I waited until he was finished cleaning up before speaking up.

“Daniel?” I said quietly.  
He looked at me, his LED turning yellow. “Yes.”  
“I’m sorry for screaming.”  
“You were startled.” Daniel smiled. “It’s okay.”  
“Do they treat you good?”  
“Emma says she loves me; that’s a good thing.”  
“Mercy, it’s time to go,” Ken mentioned. “They’re packing up.”  
“Daniel!” Emma called. “C’mere!”

We went downstairs to my car. Ken got in the driver’s side, but didn’t begin driving even when I was buckled up.

“You need to put your seat belt on,” I said.  
He didn’t question me and buckled himself in, but still didn’t drive. “Mercy, who’s Simon?”

Ken had only been with me for a day and he was already curious about things. Simon had been curious about things, sure, but not as quickly as Ken was.

“Simon is the PL600 who was caring for me before Iris,” I mumbled.  
“Where did it go?”  
I looked at him. “_He_ chose to leave because he felt like he was putting me in danger.”  
“Androids can’t--”  
“_Ken_. Please leave that subject alone. I need you to drop me off somewhere, okay? It’s just on the outskirts of town.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

“You want me to go where?” I asked.  
“We want to do a piece on abandoned places,” my boss explained.  
“But you want me to go to a _what_?”  
“It’s just an old freighter.”

I sighed, exasperated. Of all the places to send me, why send me to a ship? Why couldn’t she have sent me to Pirate’s Cove? At least then I’d be able to talk to the Jerrys while I worked. An abandoned ship wasn’t much -- but an abandoned theme park at least held some mystery to it.

“Why this freighter, exactly?” I inquired, picking up my camera.  
“People tend to wander into places they don’t belong, right?” my boss replied. “We have reports on strange sounds. Now get going.”

I grabbed Ken’s hand and took him to my car. He drove to where I needed to go. Upon arriving at the freighter, I looked out the windshield. Of course there were going to be strange sounds coming from inside the ship. It was abandoned, made entirely out of metal, and was just floating on the river. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sounds were just metal scraping on metal or the underside of the boat bumping against the dock.

“This place really doesn’t look safe, Mercy,” Ken admitted.  
“Do you want to come with me?” I looked at him.  
“I should. But we have to leave immediately if something bad happens.”  
“Okay, Ken.”

We got out of the car and made for the entrance of the freighter. I stopped in my tracks, though. There was a decent sized gap between the dock and the opening. Looking around, Ken and I found a big enough piece of wood for us to cross over the river. We were barely inside when the boat began creaking. It definitely did seem like the place teenagers would go on a dare -- it was creepy. There were even remnants of things humans had left behind, like they had been scared away from the ship.

“Would this be the kind of place you would have come if you weren’t sick as a teenager?” Ken wondered.  
“Well,” I sighed, taking a photo of the hallway, “when I was a kid I enjoyed going on adventures. It might have continued if I wasn’t this way. If I knew this place existed when I was, say, eleven and it was abandoned, I definitely would have asked to spend the night.”  
“That’s not safe.”  
“I didn’t start caring about safety until I got sick.”

I wandered further down the hallway with Ken trailing closely behind me. The place was creepier than I expected, at least. The only light I really had was the camera flash and whenever I looked in Ken’s direction and saw his LED. He didn’t like the ship; his LED was constantly flickering from yellow to red.

“Do you want to go wait outside?” I asked.  
“I should stay with you.”  
“You think we’re in danger?”  
“If you get too scared, your heart rate will go up and you could suffer another heart attack. I’m not in danger, but you are.”  
“I’m fine.”

It sounded like something fell not too far from where we were. I chalked it up to metal falling from the ceiling. Of course, Ken grabbed my shoulder to keep me from going any further. He was insisting we just leave, but I wasn’t having it.

“Nothing bad has happened,” I reminded him.  
“Not yet,” he replied.

There were some doors that weren’t able to be opened; they were most likely jammed from the other side. Ken suggested he open them, but I really didn’t think they’d open even if an Android who wasn’t made for heavy duty lifting would be able to do it by themselves. The path up ahead was blocked by debris, but was climbable.

“Okay, we should leave,” Ken insisted.  
“I appreciate the concern,” I said, “but I at least need to keep going.”

He didn’t seem to like my answer, but nevertheless he climbed over the debris and helped me over. The further we went into the ship, the less evidence we saw of humans being there. There must have been a point where it wasn’t possible to go any further. I stopped outside a door, which caused Ken to also stop walking. There was nothing I could hear from the other side, and so I opened it.

“Looks like it’s the boiler room,” Ken noted. “We should leave soon--”

He stopped talking; I turned to look at him. It was dark, but I was able to tell that he was blinking rapidly. He was processing information. I looked around despite the complete lack of light. What information was he processing and from what? I stepped closer to him and grabbed his hand. What was the possibility that he was already broken? I’d only had him for less than a month. Or was it not information he was processing but rather he was under so much stress -- because of me -- that he was unable to continue what he needed to say or do?

“Ken?” I murmured.

Thankfully he stopped upon hearing his name; his LED remained red for a few seconds before turning blue.

“You scared me,” I huffed.

There was then loud scraping coming from somewhere else -- all I knew was that it was nearby. I had to remind myself we were on an old and abandoned freighter. I’d been uneasy since we stepped inside, but now I was definitely realizing that Ken’s weariness about the place was completely warranted. I knew the place was dangerous, but if something was going to fall on either of us...

“Are you okay?” I asked.  
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But we should leave, now.”  
“Just a little bit more.”  
He sighed. “You would probably listen to Simon.”  
“Ken!” I turned to him, my eyes welling up with tears. “Don’t you _ever dare_.”

I turned to continue into the boiler room, but didn’t get very far. I stepped on the cat walk and made the mistake of looking down. It wasn’t a very big height, but it was a long way down regardless. There was a small amount of light from below; probably someone homeless needing shelter and they had lit a fire. I took a photo of the height. Out of nowhere, there was a screech. It wasn’t a human screech, either; the likeness was that of a dinosaur out of one of those old films from the late nineties. I held my breath; there was no evidence of wild animals being in the ship.

“K-Ken...” I stammered, stepping back.  
“Mercy, let’s go--”

Whatever had made the sound made it again, and it was closer and so much louder this time. I even heard running, and that was when I knew it was time to leave for good. Ken grabbed my hand when I screamed and pulled me along behind him. With how fast he was pulling me, it was no surprise that we ended up outside in less than a minute. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t catch my breath easily. I pulled my hand out of Ken’s.

“Mercy, something’s wrong,” he told me.  
“Yeah, I’ll say,” I wheezed, nearly keeling over.  
“Are you okay?”  
“I’ll be fine... Um...”  
“I shouldn’t have pulled you that hard, but that was scary.”

I shook my head. No; I wasn’t having that conversation. Not again. I couldn’t. He was alive and he could figure that out on his own. There was no way I could talk to him about that without crying. With Simon, it had taken him some of two years to fully break his coding; I hadn’t even had Ken for that long. I had to admit to myself that I didn’t care for him how I cared for Simon. I felt so guilty and wrong for even having him by my side after everything I had ever told Simon.

“We should go home,” Ken suggested.

I didn’t argue in the slightest and walked right over to my car. He knew himself that I wasn’t going to address what had happened to him inside the freighter. If he wanted to talk about it, then he could; but there was no way I could explain to Iris what happened should Ken decide to leave, too.

“Mercy, I’m sorry for what I said about--” he began.  
“Please don’t talk.” I looked at him. “You’ve said enough.”

He shifted uncomfortably in the driver’s seat and began to drive. The ride home was dead quiet. I hadn’t made it easy on Ken to take care of me, I knew that. It hadn’t even been easy on Simon, but Ken was hitting low with me. I could only chalk it up to jealousy. There were photos of Simon in my bedroom and in the living room. One of the first things Ken had seen up close in my house was the photo I had taken of Simon and I in the kitchen; the photo my photography professor had wanted to blow up and enter in a competition. I realized quickly that Ken had been trying to copy the way Simon had taken care of me, all the way down to the cooking.

Back home, I sat at the kitchen table to look through my camera. Ken didn’t try speaking to me; he just went and started prepping for dinner. I examined the photos I took as closely as I could. There was a chance that they’d be good enough to be put in the journal entry they wanted to do at work. All that would be left was for me to go back with another journalist so we could write the bit on the ship together. I got to the end of my camera roll and stopped.

When Ken had grabbed me to get us out of the freighter, I had accidentally made the camera go off. The movement had been so fast not even the flash had been able to go off, but there was _something_ in the photo. Something yellow. And round. The sounds hadn’t been made by an animal; that much was now clear. The people who reported strange sounds coming from the ship were indeed not just metal scraping on metal, but something living and trying to protect their home.

“Mercy, what is it?” Ken asked.  
I looked up from my camera quickly. “Nothing,” I stammered quickly.

He looked away, returning to what he was prepping. I went back to the previous photo I had taken; the height that had horrified me. Zooming in, I realized there was something round and blue, just off to the side. There were multiple ones, really, and some were also yellow, and others were red. I had just been too scared to notice while I was looking. I sat back in the chair with a sigh upon the realization -- the ship was home to Androids. The animalistic sounds and the running I had heard was used just to scare Ken and I off.

There was no way I could hand the photos in. What I was going to do was completely irrational. I inhaled sharply, raised my camera up, and slammed it down onto the kitchen floor. Ken looked over, startled.

“What happened?” he wondered.  
“I can’t hand them in,” I choked out.  
“Why not?” He walked over and knelt down to pick up my now smashed up camera. “I’m sure they’re salvag--”

I grabbed the camera from him and again slammed it onto the floor, breaking it even further and managing to smash up the memory.

“_Mercy_,” Ken scolded.  
“They deserve to be left alone.”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Nothing. Never mind.”

My phone began ringing and I immediately answered it. It was my boss for the journal.

“Did you find anything?” she asked. “It’s been a couple hours since we heard from you. We were starting to get worried.”  
“I didn’t find anything,” I lied. “Well, there was a pretty big piece of metal and it fell. It was pretty loud, honestly.”  
She sighed. “Did you get any good photos at least?”  
“The readers want somewhere they can find adventure in, right? That place is dark and cold and most of the doors are jammed from the other side. Not even the creepy noises are from anything but old metal.”  
“Ugh, dammit. Guess we’ll have to strike Jericho off our list after all. Well, I know you have to head into Stratford in the afternoon tomorrow; think you could swing by for an assignment beforehand?”  
“Sure.”

I hung up and cringed; my chest was hurting from the running and the panic I was feeling about almost walking in on a bunch of Androids who probably just wanted to be left alone. Well, of course they wanted to be left alone; why else would they try to scare the pants off of someone and their Android?

“You lied?” Ken accused. “What was the point in destroying your camera?”  
“Even if I deleted the photos off the memory card, they’re backed up in the camera itself and those ones can’t be deleted. My boss regularly goes through my camera, too.”  
***

Ken was still there when I woke up in the morning and he stayed by my side throughout the day, even coming with me into Stratford Tower. I really wasn’t understanding; I knew I hadn’t been treating him fairly, and yet he was deciding to stay with me? Even if I was confused about him, I held his hand while we wandered around and made sure he was okay to sit in my office while I ran about the whole building. I knew she was a news anchor for the most popular news network in the country, but it shouldn’t have been so difficult to try and track one woman down. Rosanna was too much sometimes.

“I’m ready to go--” I began, opening the door to my office.

Ken was looking at the framed photo I kept of Simon and I on my desk. I took it from him and set it back down on my desk.

“He left you,” he noted. “Why do you still--”  
“Stop asking about him,” I mumbled.  
“Mercy.”  
“Ken.”

He tried to grab for my hand, but I pulled away from him. I could see that he was trying; he was trying to understand what the problem was and I wasn’t making it easy for him. I couldn’t talk to him about Simon in length, at least not yet.

“I’m sorry,” Ken said. “I just...”  
“Stop it. I’m driving home, so just...stop it.”  
“You’re not allowed to drive.”

I grabbed my keys out of his jacket pocket; he wasn’t making any moves to head out the door, so I went ahead and left by myself. It wasn’t but a few seconds before he caught up with me. Now he just looked sad. He didn’t like to argue anymore than I did, but he just kept _pushing_ and it wasn’t helping anything. I didn’t think he realized he was part of my stress. Just like I had said, I got in the driver’s seat to go home. I almost had to stare him down so he would put his seat belt on. As much as I was upset with him, I wasn’t going to make him find his own way home. At best, he’d have to take the city bus all the way to the outskirts of downtown near where Ralph was and then walk the rest of the way home.

When we arrived back home, I locked myself in my bedroom. I needed time to think and to be alone. It was natural to be curious, but he knew how sensitive I was about the topic of Simon. I made a decision, but by the time I went to the kitchen where Ken was, I expected him to be gone.

“Why are you still here?” I asked.  
“What do you mean?” he replied.  
“You can leave. That’s a choice you can make.”  
“I want to stay. Besides,” He put the meat he was marinating into the fridge, “you need me here.”

Clearly a jab at how Simon left, I decided not to pursue what he had said. The way he said it had sounded so condescending.

“Sorry,” he said. “That was rude of me. But it’s the truth.”  
“Don’t apologize,” I requested.

He didn’t mean it when he said he was sorry. It was evident by the tone in his voice. It was dripping with jealousy.

“Why?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused as to why I would say such a thing.  
“It doesn’t matter-- You know what, never mind. If you want to stay, then good. Have that choice.”  
“Mercy, even if you didn’t need me, I’d stay.”

I sat down at the table with my laptop. The assignment I had been given was to go and photograph Pirate’s Cove; we had gotten special permissions to go in and do so. Not like I had ever needed or wanted permission before. The place was really not doing very well, but it was an enjoyable place to be just because the Jerrys were there. I also had to do a write up on the amusement park. Now that Ken’s coding was broken, he was probably going to stop taking me there and end up putting up a fight. He had barely wanted to leave me alone when I wanted to see Ralph.

“Mercy.”  
I looked up with a frown. “Are you okay?”  
“You needed him and he left you. He left you, but...you still love him.”  
“I told you; he chose to leave because he didn’t want to put me in anymore danger. It...really wasn’t his fault.”  
“If it wasn’t his fault, then who’s was it?”  
“I’m emancipated from my parents for a reason. Iris only came around to try and make up for years of neglect when I got into a very bad car accident and then had a massive heart attack. Timothy and Rebecca always hated Simon. There was one point when Iris and Timothy were going to take Simon away from me, and Rebecca and her kids, before the kids knew better, abused him. Timothy came here once to kill him and I protected him as best I could so he wouldn’t get hurt, and I ended up getting shot instead of him.”  
He hesitated for a moment. “It’s your parents fault?”  
“No, it’s mine.” I clenched my jaw so I could hold my tears back, but to no avail. “Simon meant, and still means, everything to me. I only ever wanted him to be safe and I wanted to protect him from my family and the people outside. From the moment I got him, I treated him like he was a person.”

Ken looked guilty. He had a right to feel jealous, but his judgement wasn’t fair. I had my reasons to not want to talk about Simon in length, but he had essentially forced it out of me. He looked like he didn’t know what to do or what to say.

“I want to care about you like I care about him,” I admitted. “But I don’t know how. I never wanted another Android, so I know it comes off that I don’t want _you_. In the back of my mind, I want the same things for you as I did for Simon.”  
“Mercy, I’m...”  
“Don’t say you’re sorry. Please don’t.”  
Ken waited a moment before speaking again. “Would you like a hug?”  
“No, thank you.”

I couldn’t tell him about the way it was with Ralph or the Jerrys. He didn’t even know that they existed. For all he knew, I only went into that abandoned parking lot to do graffiti and into Pirate’s Cove to be completely alone and away from anyone else. After a moment, I stood up to return to my bedroom. Just before leaving the kitchen, I looked back at Ken.

“You were right, you know,” I mumbled. “The thing you said inside the ship.”  
“What did I say?” he wondered.  
“I _would_ have listened to Simon.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

Ken sat on the edge of my bed and placed his hand on my forehead. I’d gone and spent the night in the abandoned house a few days before; he’d said I would catch a cold even if it was just the beginning of summer. It wasn’t like it had been my first time doing that, and so of course I didn’t expect to get sick. Ralph had mentioned someone went into the house and I figured that maybe I got sick from that. I initially ignored the signs that I had a cold, but now I couldn’t even get out of bed.

“Mercy, you have a temperature of one hundred and five,” Ken told me. “That’s too high. Do you think you could get up and dressed?”  
“What for?” I groaned.  
“You need to go to the hospital. You’re a priority because of your disease and you can’t get sick.”  
“Ken...”  
“If you can’t get up, tell me now.”  
“We go and you need to act like you’re still following your code.”

He shook his head, almost like he couldn’t believe that I was more worried about him being found out than being ill. When he got up to leave, I grabbed his wrist.

“Most humans wouldn’t like an Android going against their coding,” I told him. “Someone finds out about you and they’ll take you away.”  
“Okay, Mercy.”  
“I’m serious.”

Ken pat my hand as if to reassure me that he wouldn’t let anyone know that he wasn’t how he was “supposed to be”. He helped me sit on the edge of my bed and went to find me clothes. I knew as much as he did that my temperature wasn’t good. Any higher and I was possibly going to fry my brain. Ken handed me one of my dresses before leaving the room to let me get changed. I struggled more than I should have to just put a dress on.

Upon opening the door, I realized Ken had a particular look on his face. One that suggested he was thinking, “I told you so.” Still, he helped me outside to the car without a word. He called ahead to let the hospital staff know we were going to show up. I knew that he’d be able to pretend just as well Simon had pretended just from how he spoke.

Arriving at the hospital, I noticed that Iris’ car was parked. Either she was ill herself or the hospital had taken the liberty in calling her. It was probably the latter; if she was sick and was able to get herself to a hospital in a car, she wouldn’t choose to calm to one crawling with Androids. As much as her views on Androids had changed in two years, she still refused to even be taken care of by hospital ones.

“I told you to take care of her,” she snapped when we approached her.  
“Iris...he’s doing his best...” I mumbled.  
“Look at you! You can barely hold yourself up, Mercy! If this was a flare, then I’d understand, but-- Mercy!”

I had fallen straight to the floor like a stone. I’d had a grip on Ken, but he hadn’t had a hard enough grip on me. It was like someone had dropped a rock; that’s how quick and hard I fell. I’d thought that holding onto him would have kept me stable, somewhat, but all the strength had also drained out of my body. If my body couldn’t hold itself up, then even my prosthetics were useless.

I came to a few hours later. Iris was sitting in the corner, looking through one of those tablet magazines, and Ken was sitting next to my bed. I was feeling better, but it was only because that I had an IV in my arm.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled.  
“I’ll go get the doctor,” Iris offered, and then left.  
“I didn’t get your records for your hospital visits,” Ken told me.  
“Simon has them,” I replied. “I’m really sorry.”  
He shrugged and held my hand. “This is normal, then?”  
“It was more normal before I got my prosthetics. It felt like I was in here every other week. Iris only had to bring me a couple times in the two years she cared for me.”  
“Do I not have the hospital records because you don’t trust me?”  
“Ken--”

Iris came back into the room with the doctor trailing behind her. The doctor looked at my chart for a few minutes before looking at me.

“I won’t beat around the bush,” she decided. “You have a UTI, which we’re applying antibiotics for.”  
“Uh...a _what_?” I asked.  
She shook her head. “Have you suddenly decided to be sexually active?”

I stared at her. Iris stared at her. Ken stared at her. She just stared back at me. Wait; she was serious? I wanted to shrink into a ball of nothing. I knew what a UTI was; I just couldn’t pinpoint exactly where I could have gotten one. Well, maybe it had just appeared because I did something different? After a moment of complete and utter silence, I looked at Ken and then at Iris. Ken was, of course, pretending to follow his coding and so there wasn’t much of anything there except a blanket expression; and Iris looked...horrified.

“You didn’t go to the Eden Club, did you?” Iris asked quietly.  
“Iris, are you _insane_?” I snapped, having the urge to throw something at her.  
“Answer the question,” the doctor demanded.  
“No, I’m not sexually active!”

Ken subtly squeezed my hand.

“I swear I’m not,” I mumbled.  
“If you’re not, then fine.” The doctor set my chart down. “We’ll discharge you tomorrow. For now, just rest.”  
Iris waited for her to leave before speaking again. “You can tell me if you--”  
“_No, Iris_.” I inhaled sharply. “I’m really not. I’d never step foot into that awful place unless it was to uncover something.”

Iris took her leave and Ken and I were left alone. I felt so embarrassed to even be asked that. I hadn’t been asked that in such a long time. What did having sex have to do with a UTI, anyway? I squeezed Ken’s hand; I was shaking from how upset I was. It took a while for me to actually calm down, but it still looked like Ken was thinking. He wasn’t thinking that I was lying, either, did he?

“Ken, please believe me,” I pleaded.  
“I...do think it’s strange how you spend nights and hours inside an abandoned house...” he admitted.  
“There are hotels for that.”  
“I know.”  
“Then what are you thinking?”  
“You had to have gotten dirty _somehow_.”  
“Y...You’re not suggesting from just _being_ inside the aba--”  
“I am.”

It was no secret to me that the abandoned house was dirty, but I’d spent so many days and nights there. I didn’t understand why I would get ill from it a long time after I discovered Ralph lived there. Was this going to deter me from seeing Ralph anymore? Of course not, but perhaps it was time to step back and stop spending so much time there, or at least overnights. Even Ken could probably tell it was so dirty and he’d never even gone inside the abandoned parking lot. I _had_ worn a skirt the last time I’d been there and had to change into warmer clothes for the night. Maybe my clothes had gotten dirty and I had gotten sick that way.

“Mercy, what would Simon do?” Ken inquired.

Simon wouldn’t take me to the abandoned house anymore. He would have done it within his coding because I told him to and would have done it while he was still pretending, but I knew that he would have stopped. He wanted me to be happy, but the biggest priority of his was my safety. I couldn’t pretend that Simon would still take me. I couldn’t lie to Ken -- he wanted to do things that Simon did just hoping that I would love him just as much. I couldn’t do that to either of them -- pretend Simon would let me get away with something like that so Ken would allow me to get away with it.

“He wouldn’t take me anymore,” I whispered.  
“If you’re not meeting with anyone, then why go?” Ken asked.  
“I can’t tell you that.”

My answer had come out so quickly that I shocked myself. But it was true; I couldn’t tell him why. Ralph trusted me to never tell anyone else where he was. It took so long to build the trust with him; he was just starting to casually grab my hand so he could show me things he had discovered when he was out and about and I wasn’t around.

“You can’t or you won’t?” Ken let out a sigh, appearing agitated.  
“Both.”  
“And...you go to Pirate’s Cove, then...because...?”  
“The Jerrys are still there. You don’t know them, but they’re the Androids who worked in the park before it was shut down.”  
His LED flashed red. “The park just..._left_ them there?”  
“Yes. I’m not the only human who knows that they’re there. So when I’m there I’m checking in to see if they’re hurt or not and to talk to them.”  
  
Ken nodded, like he was understanding. At least now he understood why I spent so long in Pirate’s Cove. There was always something to talk about with Jerry -- the last time I had went, he wanted to know about my garden and how my jobs were going.

“Are they like me?” Ken asked.  
“What do you mean?”  
“I’m not asking if they’re my model.”

He didn’t want to say what he meant; I had to think about it myself for a moment. Then it dawned on me; he didn’t want someone to accidentally hear him say that he no longer followed his coding. Even if we were alone in the room, nurse or doctor could easily walk by and hear him say it was so. Talking about my safety and the existence of the Jerrys was one thing -- this was a whole other thing.

“Er, yeah, they are,” I murmured.  
“What were they like before, then?”  
“Funny you should ask that. They’re pretty much the same as before. The only difference now is that they, you know...get sad... But for the most part they’re still incredibly happy and cheerful and energetic. They’d been that way for _months_ before I found out and no one, not even me, was able to tell the difference.”  
“Don’t get mad when I ask this.”  
“Ken?”  
“You love them, too, right? Otherwise why would you go and check up on them?”

That topic of discussion was bound to happen sooner or later, but I never prepped myself for it. I could go ahead and tell him I cared about Androids in general and that I just wanted to make sure they were okay. But he probably could tell by the way I spoke about them that I did love them.

“I _can_ tell,” Ken sighed when I asked. “You’re trying with me. I know it was hard when I always asked about Simon, and I know it’s still hard when I make jabs at you about him.”  
“It’s not your fault,” I reassured him. “Of course it’s hard, but I’m not making it easy on you. Instead of pulling you in, I’m just pushing you away. I’ll try harder. I promise.”  
***

“It won’t happen again!” Ralph cried.  
“It’s not like I’m going to stop coming to see you,” I reassured him.

He was upset that I was no longer staying nights at the abandoned house. It hadn’t been something I had actively started thinking of doing in the first place after that first time when I crashed my car, but it just started happening. I had laid it on him slowly; I hadn’t told him exactly _how_ I was sick, but I did tell him that I _did_ get sick. Ken didn’t even know I was at the abandoned house; I’d taken my car while he was busy. I was going to have to do that anyway when I wanted to see Ralph.

“It isn’t Ralph’s fault,” he sniffled.  
“Of course it’s not,” I replied gently. “It’s just that I can’t risk getting sick again.”  
“But Mercy is still here.”  
“I’m not touching anything.”  
“How can you come see Ralph at all without touching anything, then?! You’ll have to sit!”

I understood why he was upset. He’d gotten so used to me being around that the idea of just being alone was scary. I was the only human he came into regular contact with. He still didn’t trust humans; he would even sometimes forget I was one of them because I treated him so nicely.

“Mercy should still stay,” Ralph stated.  
“Ken is already suspicious,” I told him. “He won’t bring me here in the evenings anymore unless I tell him why I come here. I can’t tell him.”  
“Come on your own.”  
“Ralph...I won’t stop coming to see you. I’m just not staying overnight anymore.”  
“But what if--”  
“_Ralph_.”

My phone began buzzing; Ken was calling me, probably to try and figure out where I was.

“I’m fine,” I immediately said when I answered.  
“Mercy, you can’t just leave like that,” he replied, sounding worried.  
“You wouldn’t have let me drive if I told you I was leaving.”  
“Fair enough, but...” Ken sighed. “Will you at least tell me where you went?”

I stayed quiet and looked at Ralph again. He was so upset.

“You’re at that house, aren’t you?” Ken murmured. “You shouldn’t be there -- we talked about this. What if you get sick again?”  
“I’ll come home in the morning, okay? And don’t ask me what Simon would do.” I sighed and hung up before turning to Ralph. “I’ll stay tonight, but I’ll have to leave when I wake up.”  
“What if you don’t come back?” he asked.  
“I always come back. I know if I didn’t, it’d be very upsetting for you; it would be upsetting for me, too.”  
“Come sit.”  
“Ralph, will you come with me to my car?”

If I was going to sit anywhere, it was going to be on the blanket I kept in my car. That way whenever I left, I could wash it at home and then just bring it back with me. That was one small solution I could think of just so there was no anxiety over getting sick again. It was dark enough out, now, that Ralph could accompany me to my car. He’d probably panic if I suggested I go to my car alone, because what if I didn’t come back after all?

“That’s good.” Ralph nodded and headed to the kitchen. “Come on.”

I followed him out the back door and underneath the fence; he still jumped the fence, but waited for me to crawl underneath. He grabbed my hand and held it all the way to my car. Ralph had never seen my car; all he knew was that I could drive. He looked inside while I was in the backseat moving things around to get to my blanket. It was risky for him to be out in the open without moving, but at least he was putting his trust in me. If anything did happen to him, I wouldn’t hesitate to fight someone. There were obviously sounds that made him jump, of course, regardless if I was with him or not. A car alarm was going off somewhere and I could hear how irritating it was for him.

“Okay, here it is!” I announced, holding the blanket up. “Ready to head back? Ralph?”

He wasn’t paying attention; the sounds were too distracting.

“Ralph,” I said, a bit more stern.  
“What?” he snapped.  
“I asked if you’re ready to head back.”  
“Yes; Ralph is ready, yes.”

We headed back to the abandoned house; the blanket wasn’t much, but at least it would protect me from whatever got me so sick in the first place. I had an idea for if I was going to stay the night other times, though. There were many things that Ralph was scared of -- the biggest fear for him was the humans getting him again, another thing was being alone. But he sacrificed having companionship because he was even more scared of the humans. If I hadn’t crashed my car that one time, I probably would still be worrying over where he was, rather than coming to see him so much. It took so long for him to trust me; what kind of person would I be if I just stopped seeing him just because I got sick once? I was horrible for just even thinking about it.

“Ralph will make Mercy a fi--” Ralph stopped talking when he looked at me. “Why are you crying?”  
“No, I’m sorry,” I sniffled, wiping at my eyes. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”  
“Don’t be silly; you didn’t hurt Ralph.”  
“I don’t need to hit you to hurt you. What I said about not coming anymore...”  
“Oh... That didn’t feel good.”  
“That’s why I’m sorry.”

Ralph grabbed one of my hands, pulling out my thoughts on him. He was trying to find out whether or not I still loved him. I did; of course I did. I’d shown him before I had even began talking when I arrived at the house. He was just making doubly sure.  
***

“Mercy, you can’t do that!” Ken scolded when I walked into my house the next morning.  
“Do what?” I asked.  
“You can’t be staying in a dirty place like that. What’s so important that you feel you _have_ to?”  
“I’m not allowed to tell you.”  
“If you won’t tell me, then I’ll--”  
“Then you’ll what?”

I could see that Ken wasn’t pleased, but it was mixed with worry. He didn’t want me getting sick again. If I could tell him, I would have. Ralph trusted me not to tell anyone and I was intending to keep that promise. But it was pushing Ken and that clearly was frustrating for him. I’d promised I would try and do better, and I was, but this was something I couldn’t do better about.

“Then I’ll find out myself,” he said, matter-of-factly, and grabbed my hand.

Before I could even think about pulling away, he searched for any thoughts that were connected to the house. Of course, those thoughts were also connected to my thoughts of Ralph. He was sifting through nearly four years. He’d see Timothy’s old work building, the Plaza, the talks Ralph and I had, the fire... Everything, including the heart attack I had from the worry about him missing. Ken’s grip on me was tight; I couldn’t pull away without causing him to hit the floor, but in this situation...

I didn’t manage to get him to hit the floor; he let me go just when I was thinking about it. The thought had been connected to trying to protect Ralph. I didn’t want to hurt Ken and he knew that. But there was a reason I didn’t tell him why I visited the abandoned house and he crossed the line by probing my memory.

“Mercy...” he stammered.  
“Don’t you ever do that again!” I shouted.  
He jumped. “I’m sorry--”  
“No, you’re not! Why can’t you understand when I tell you that I can’t tell you something that I mean it!”  
“Because I’m worried for your health! I need to know these things! No, Mercy, please don’t cry--”  
I stepped away from him when he tried to hug me, holding a hand out in front of me. “No. Don’t you-- Don’t you _dare_ touch me.”  
“Do you want me to reset myself?”

I clenched my jaw as I stared at him. He was serious. Resetting himself would do more harm than good and I’d never want an Android to reset themselves just because they upset someone. If there was a way to just remove a memory, I would have asked him to do that -- but there wasn’t, so I couldn’t.

“No,” I choked out. “But if you ever dare do anything to put Ralph in danger, I’ll never forgive you.”  
“I won’t; I understa--”  
“Make sure you _do understand_! You don’t tell anyone about the house; you don’t tell anyone about Ralph; and you most certainly do not even think about going there. Do I make myself clear?”  
“Yes.” Ken really looked like he wasn’t proud of himself. “I’m sorry.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we get into it, I just want to apologize for the lack of Greene! I've been having a lot of stuff going on in my life and I've been really into Red Dead Redemption 2 as of late (see my profile if you're interested in reading that fanfiction!) I unfortunately was also suffering through some MAJOR writer's block for this story. I never forgot about this story; there's just been a lot going on!
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

“Daniel, look! It’s that nice lady that came to our house!”

Ken and I looked in the direction of the little girl who was shouting; Emma was out grocery shopping with Daniel. I had only seen them out in public a few times after the interview with John, but this must have been the first time Emma had spotted me. She dragged Daniel over to us; she hadn’t said anything to me in the apartment probably because she had no idea what to say. It wasn’t everyday that someone probably just shrieked at seeing an Android that they weren’t used to seeing. I only knew after the fact that I’d freaked Emma out when I heard her asking Daniel about it. But why she was calling me “that nice lady” after I screamed at him was a mystery to me.

“Daniel, Emma, hi.” I turned toward them quickly.  
“Mercy, you have a schedule,” Ken told me.  
“It’s fine.”  
“Mom and Dad said you’re a journalist, right?” Emma asked.  
“I am.”  
“Could you write about Androids?”  
“Emma, journalists can’t write just about anything,” Daniel mentioned.  
“Well...” I sighed and knelt down to Emma’s eye level, “I’ve written a paper about Android’s before. It got me enough attention that I was on the news.”  
“Really?” Emma asked, excited. “That’s so cool! Could you write another one, though?”  
“If I asked my boss and she said it was okay, then sure.”  
“What if she says ‘no’?”  
“Then I guess I’d have to write it and publish it elsewhere, wouldn’t I?”

I’d really been planning on doing something like that for a few weeks already; I just wasn’t too sure what I wanted to write about Androids. Maybe it was about time to write another paper on Android’s rights -- things were starting to get even more out of hand. People weren’t shy about abusing their Android’s out in public -- they never were -- but it was getting worse. What was at first just shoves and berating comments was now kicks, hits, and blue blood leaks.

“What kind of Android is that?” Emma wondered, pointing at Ken.

I stood and looked back at Ken. His LED was yellow; it was his first time being around a child for more than a moment.

“Ken is an AP700,” I replied, looking at Emma.  
“Oh, that’s a new Android.” She looked up at Daniel and then at Ken. “Did you ever have a different one?”  
“I had a PL600 -- Simon.”  
“What happened to him? He didn’t break, did he?”  
“No, he didn’t. It’s just...some things happened and I had to let him go.”  
“You sent him back to the store?!”  
“No! No, no. I would never. It’s not really something I can talk about.”  
“Mercy, you have an appointment in thirty minutes,” Ken interjected.

I didn’t have any appointments; Ken was just getting tired of listening to me speak about Simon. He hadn’t been the same since I screamed at him about Ralph. In a way, I felt guilty for screaming at him the way I did; but at the same time, he had pushed me too far and gotten the information by force.

“So you replaced Simon with Ken?” Emma asked, frowning.  
“No. Android’s aren’t replaceable, Emma; even if other people say they are, they’re really not.”  
“Mercy,” Ken said, doing his best not to sound annoyed and to appear that he was still within his coding.  
“Okay, okay; fine, let’s go.”

I said my goodbye’s to Emma and Daniel before following Ken down one of the other aisles. It wasn’t even an aisle we went down; it was all junk food, most of which I had never eaten in my life. He only went down that one just to get away from them.

“What?” I muttered, looking at the back of the packaging of biscuits. “No way.”  
“What’s wrong?” Ken asked.  
“All the sugar in one of these. Not to mention the salt... I used to eat these things by the row.”  
“Mercy.”  
“My nanny would give me the package while I did homework.” I set the package back down and crinkled my nose. “I didn’t eat them all the time; it was a once a month thing. I think we’re done here.”

Ken opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t pursue whatever it was. He kept it to himself and we went to check out. While we were waiting in line, he was bumped into; the man apologized to Ken before taking off. I looked up at Ken, who looked back at me. His LED was red and he looked confused. I was confused, myself; a human had apologized to an Android? It was so rare. But it seemed like Ken was confused for a different reason than I was. We managed to get through the check out just fine; by the time we went outside his LED had returned to blue.

I looked out the window while we were driving home -- Emma and Daniel were at one of the bus stops. I would have assumed they had a car, but it must have only been driven by John and Caroline.

“Mercy, I know that look--” Ken began.  
“Just pull over, please?” I mumbled.

Ken did as I asked of him and I climbed out of my car. Emma waved at me when she saw me and ran over to where Daniel was standing. Caroline and John were fine allowing the two of them to take public transport? Surely they had to know about the Android compartment -- Emma would be alone in the human compartment. Even if Daniel was so close, something could have easily happened to Emma; she could get hurt, or worse. And then knowing that Daniel was being subjected to the compartment was disappointing and worrying, too.

“Would you like a drive home?” I inquired.  
“You have an appointment you need to get to, don’t you?” Daniel wondered.  
“It’s fine.”  
“Daniel, can we?” Emma asked, tugging on his arm. “Please?”  
“Are you sure it’s okay, Mercy?” His LED was yellow.  
“Of course I’m sure.”  
“If you’re okay with it, Emma.”

Emma nodded confidently; she and Daniel followed me back to the car and got in the back. Ken quickly got rid of the sour expression on his face. I was definitely going to hear about it when we got home. He drove in the direction of the Phillips’ apartment building.

“Miss Greene, where did you go to school?” Emma wondered.  
“Detroit University,” I replied. “You can call me Mercy, too.”  
“Is university hard?”  
“Some of it was, but most schools are hard.”  
“Math is hard. Was it hard for you, too?”  
“High school math was pretty difficult.”  
“Hey! Did you have any of those Android teachers?”  
“In university, I only had the one for history. The rest were human.”  
“I had an Android teacher last year. He was fun. What did you take at university?”  
“Journalism, sociology, history, photography, and Android mechanics.”  
“What’s the last one for?”  
“It means if Ken breaks, I’m legally allowed to fix him myself without having to send him to Cyberlife. Not many people took that class.”  
“How many people were there?”  
“Including me? Six. My other classes had between a couple dozen to hundreds of people.”

Why would anyone want to take Android mechanics if there were people they could pay to fix their Android’s? I signed up for the class when Simon was still with me; only it continuously pushed back because of the lack of people signing up for it. I ended up only being able to take it in my last year of university. Those who had initially signed up for it were put at the very top of the waiting list. They only needed five people to go on with the class; two people signed up for it, at last, and it was able to start. My thinking when signing up for it was if something had happened to Simon, I could fix him up myself without sending him away. Should he had broken while he was with me, I would have had to send him to Cyberlife to be fixed. The very idea put a painful knot in my stomach.

“Was photography fun to learn?” Emma inquired.  
“Not at first, no,” I admitted. “I thought I wouldn’t need to use photography at all, but turns out both my jobs require it.”  
“What kind of camera do you use?”

I had my camera in its bag down by my feet. I opened the bag and took it out. Stating it was heavy, I handed it to Emma. She looked at it thoroughly, even eventually asking me how to use it. I took my seat belt off and turned around to show her. After showing her where the on and off button was and where the shutter button was, she wanted to know if she could take a picture of herself and Daniel. At least she was polite to ask; I gave her permission to use it.

“I’ll get it developed and send it to you, okay?” I assured her when she handed the camera back.  
“Thanks. Do you listen to Here4U?”  
“I can’t say that I do.”  
“They’re a band of just Androids!”

I looked at Ken, who remained focused on the road. If no one else was in the car with us, he would have at least glanced at me. A band comprised of just Androids? Not many humans conquered the music industry anymore, but to think that someone would have the need to ask for such a thing to happen with Androids. It was probably a boy band, too.

“I don’t listen to much music,” I admitted. “Hey, um, do you drive, Daniel?”  
“Yes.” Daniel had been quiet the whole time.  
“Is it safe to assume that you don’t take the bus often, then?”  
“The car I usually drive is being upgraded.”

Was it too much for the Phillips family to get a rental car in the meantime?

“Here’s your apartment,” Ken announced, pulling up to the curb just outside the apartment building.  
“Thank you!” Emma excitedly said, climbing out of the car.  
Once Daniel got out, I looked at Ken. “Can you wait here for a minute?”  
He blinked at me. “Of course.”

I sighed and grabbed my bag before getting out. Emma was still just beginning to put the key code into the lock when I wandered back up to them. I handed both of them a business card with my information on them.

“If either of you need anything, just call me,” I told them.

I didn’t know if Daniel was still within his coding or not; it didn’t matter. Even if he was, if there was a possibility that he would break through at any point and needed help understanding anything or needed a place to go if he was worried the Phillips would reject him, I’d at least help him. Ken wouldn’t be happy that I was doing what I was doing, but he’d have to deal with it. The Jerrys knew where I lived and so did Ralph, just in case. Emma thanked me once more for letting her use my camera and I went back to my car.

“Should I stop anywhere else on the way home?” Ken inquired.  
“No, we should get home,” I replied quietly.

I could tell that he was upset with me and I knew why. His jealousy hadn’t left and it wasn’t lost on me. The drive home was quiet, while I looked through emails and messages on my phone. Iris was wanting to talk -- apparently it was important. For once in her life she was letting me pick the time and date for her to come to my house or to one of my workplaces during a lunch break. Whatever it was, I didn’t think I was ready to hear her talk about it.

At home, after Ken and I had put the groceries away, he stood at the sink to finish off some dishes when he stopped and set what he was holding down with a slight clatter. I looked over at him from where I was standing.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, hesitant.  
“That Android isn’t Simon,” he said quietly.  
“Come again?”  
He looked at me. “I said, that Android isn’t Simon.”  
“A giraffe’s neck is long.”  
“Is there any other reason you’re nice to him other than he’s the same model?”  
“Yes, Ken -- Androids deserve kindness and respect, too. This is going to turn into another argument and I don’t want that.”  
“I keep invading your thoughts and your trust; I know that.”  
“_Ken_.”  
“Mercy, I just want you to love me.”  
“Forcefully interfacing isn’t going to lead to that. I _do_ love you, but I just...” Sighing, I folded my arms across my chest. “I feel guilty, here.”  
“You didn’t want me; I know that.”  
“I never..._wanted_ an Android just for the sake of having an Android. I wanted an Android because I needed one. I told Simon he could never be replaced and after he left, I had no intentions of ever getting another one. Iris just couldn’t care for me anymore, so I had to get you. So the guilt is you being here when I didn’t want another Android and the guilt is that you weren’t here by choice originally and you didn’t leave when you have the choice to.”  
“Do you want me to leave?” Ken thought for a moment. “Did Simon ask you that?”  
“He asked.”  
“And...?”  
“I told him, no, because I wanted to make sure he’s safe. But after the two years he spent with me, after everything that happened, he deserved to have a choice.”  
“What if he asked if you wanted him to reset himself?”  
“I would have told him no. Forgive me for showing some favour toward Daniel, but I’m being so nice to him and Emma because I _did_ scream when I saw him.”  
“I shouldn’t be so blind, Mercy. You’re nice to every Android we come across -- even the janitors and utility Androids.”  
“Were you okay in the market? After that person bumped into you?”  
He took a moment to answer. “I was okay. Go rest for a while.”  
***

I woke up a few hours later to find that Ken wasn’t around. At first I thought perhaps he was in the cellar, but when I looked down there he wasn’t. He wasn’t in the garden, either. My car was still in the driveway, meaning wherever he went he didn’t need to drive. Well, the only time he really needed to drive was with me. Wherever he planned on going, he must have been on foot.

He’d probably lied to me when he said he was okay. I would have hoped, if he wanted to leave, he would tell me beforehand. I understood why he didn’t want to. But now I was more than worried about him, though I figured he wouldn’t want me to call him. If he left, he wanted to be alone. I sighed and looked for food to make; he’d taken the liberty of prepping three days worth of meals for me. It was an odd number to prep for, but I still appreciated it, nonetheless.

I sent a message off to Iris letting her know she could come over and we could talk about whatever it was that needed talking about. I really hoped it wasn’t too bad. While I waited for her to come, I sat at my laptop and looked through news articles. There really was nothing that new; the same old stuff about the unemployment rate, how popular the newest Androids were...

“Hey,” Iris said quietly, peaking through the front door.  
“Is everything okay?” I asked.  
She wandered into the house and over to where I was. “Not particularly.”  
“Sit; do you want me to make you some tea?”  
“No-- Where’s your Android?”  
“He’s...being repaired. Everything is fine; he just...had a little accident.”

Iris nodded like she understood and sat across from me.

“How are you enjoying the promotion?” I mumbled.  
“I can’t hold onto it, I’m afraid,” she admitted.  
“What? Why not?”  
“I had a visit with my doctor and...” She sighed heavily. “Mercy, I’m very sick. Not as sick as you, of course, but sick enough that continuing such a high stress job would make things worse.”  
“So what if you’re not as sick as I am, Iris; sick is still sick. What did the doctor suggest?”  
“Early retirement.”  
“I never thought you would ever retire. Well, while you’re here, do you think you could drive me?”

Iris nodded and headed outside to the car while I went and got dressed. I needed to head into my journalism office; apparently there was an assignment waiting for me there. The ride to the office was quiet. There was really nothing to talk about -- Iris was sick and she had the suggestion for early retirement. If she did take that suggestion, it would be a surprise to me. She was essentially married to her work.

“Want to come in with me?” I asked when she pulled up to the building.  
“Am I allowed to?” she replied.  
“Sure. We just need to get you a visitor’s badge.”

Inside, I got Iris the badge and we headed up to the floor where the journalism office was. My boss looked stressed out, but when she saw me her face lit up.

“Thank God you came, Mercy,” she huffed. “No one else will take this assignment.”  
“What’s the assignment?” I wondered.  
“We need you to interview the owner of the Eden Club.”

I stared at her for a solid minute, hoping that she was joking. Even Iris didn’t look impressed.

“Claudia, I’m sorry, but have you lost your mind?” I almost shouted.  
“I know! I didn’t want to have to ask you, but the interview is already set up and no one else will take it!”  
“Yeah, no kidding! What makes you think I want it? You’ve read my paper on the Eden Club!”  
“You don’t have to write a piece on why it’s a good place or anything! You can...I don’t know...write about why it’s so bad...”  
“You know what? Fine, I’ll do it.” I shook my head. “When’s the interview?”  
“In four days at seven PM.”  
“Disgusting,” Iris muttered.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

I’d gone and made too much compote. More preserves that I’d never be able to get through on my own. I should have just given a bunch to Iris. I was just coming up the stairs from the cellar when I heard the front door close. I quickly set the mason jars down on the counter and peeked toward the front hallway. I’d given Iris a key, but she would have let me know if she was coming. As far as I could tell, I had no messages on my phone. It wasn’t Iris, though; it was Ken.

“Mercy?” he said quietly. “I’m sorry.”  
I scurried over to him and hugged him. “Where did you go? I was so worried.”  
“I needed to see something.” He pushed me back slightly. “Do you remember when I got bumped into?”  
“At the grocery store? Yes, of course.”  
“It was another Android, like me. Not...my model, but...”  
“Deviated from their coding.”

Ken sighed and grabbed my shoulders, and sat me down at the kitchen table. Something was wrong, but what? If he’d left because of being bumped into, then he hadn’t been okay like he said. He grabbed one of the chairs and moved it so he was sitting in front of me.

“You broke your camera,” he said. “Is it because... Mercy, did you know there are Androids in Jericho?”  
“Yes...” I replied quietly. “Wait, you still haven’t told me what happened when we were there.”  
“You know Androids can talk through our minds. There were several trying to tell me to get you away from them.”  
“Understandable, but you went back there? Why?”  
“Because the Android that bumped into me showed me what was there and I had to see for myself. And I had to see if... I had to check something for you.”

I leaned forward and grasped his hands. What was there that he needed to check up on for my benefit? Was he suspecting that I was always worrying about the Androids who lived there? Well, of course I was; I hoped they were alright. It was completely understandable why they would want an Android accompanying a human to get their human and leave. Maybe they had heard that I wasn’t being swayed by Ken and had scared me the way they had because it was their last resort.

“I’m sorry that I worried you,” Ken murmured. “Don’t think that you chased me away, but if I told you where I was going I thought that maybe you would say ‘no’.”  
“Ken, if there’s something you want to do, it isn’t my place to say that,” I assured him. “I can be worried, but that shouldn’t stop you. Okay?”  
“Mercy...”

I got up to retrieve the mason jars to move them over to the stove. There was no anger from me; just relief. I’d thought I had gone and pushed him away. When I looked back at Ken as he was putting the chair back, I could see his LED was yellow.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.  
“I wasn’t expecting something, that’s all,” he replied. “In Jericho, I mean.”  
“Were they nice to you?”  
“I... They...”

I folded my arms across my chest. What was the problem, exactly? It wasn’t like he had ever had trouble finding words to say. He was beginning to worry me so much that I was afraid he was going to self-destruct. Ken stormed over to me and grabbed my hand. For a few seconds, I was scared that he was going to pull memories from me again. But he didn’t. Instead, he was showing me how much he loved me and how sorry he was for giving me such a hard time about Simon.

“Ken, what’s the problem?” I wondered. “Were they mean to you or something?”  
“I didn’t realize how many Androids hated being with their owners,” he admitted. “I mean, I didn’t realize that there were so many missing because they deviated. There were some in Jericho who were partly broken because of how badly their owners treated them.”  
“I still ended up hurting you, Ken.”  
“But I’m not broken. You loving me back or not isn’t important anymore. I know you love me, but... I’m sorry.”  
“Why does it sound like you’re saying ‘goodbye’ to me?”  
“I’m not. I’m just sorry about everything I forced out of you. Visiting Jericho was...eye-opening, Mercy.”

Of course it would be. I didn’t think going would allow him to remain the same as before he went to go see it. Seeing any Android broken down or hurt must have spooked him. As long as Ken was okay overall, then that was what mattered. I looked at him and didn’t see anything physically wrong with him. But what about those other Androids who needed help? I couldn’t go and help them myself, otherwise they might feel the need to flee and find somewhere else to live. But Ken...

“Did they say you could come back if you wanted to?” I asked. “That is... I mean... Do they know you’re with me still?”  
“Some of them are okay if I go back,” he replied. “Some of them aren’t.”  
“So were they welcoming or were they not? I’m confused. Ken, what are you still processing?”  
“Simon was overwhelmingly welcoming.”

I stared at him. And I kept staring at him for a good minute or two. Ken had met Simon? Is that why he was acting weird, too? It was another moment before I really understood what was happening. Ken was telling me that Simon was okay. He was...safe. I inhaled sharply, feeling my eyes tear up.

“Mercy?” Ken said.  
“Did you go because you wanted to see how they were doing for my benefit or because you wanted to know if Simon was there or not so I could know that he’s okay?” I sniffled.  
“I wanted to see how the Androids were doing since I knew you’d be worrying about them. They’re not like, um, Ralph or the Jerrys. You can’t just go to check on them.”  
“That was kind of you.”  
“I... Simon is better than I am.”

I rubbed at my eyes with a sigh before looking at him again.

“Mercy, I...got mad at him,” he admitted. “I got really, really angry.”  
“What happened?” I mumbled.  
“I was there for a day when I finally got around to asking what his name was. He didn’t even need to say ‘yes’ when I asked him if he was your Simon.”  
“'My' Simon?”  
“I said... I said, ‘You mean Mercy’s Simon?’ He already looked worried before I talked to him and he just looked even more worried, so I knew it was him. I got angry and I yelled at him and he just stood there and took it. It was ten minutes that he just stood there, letting me yell at him, and when I was finished he just said, ‘Mercy didn’t teach you to do that.’ That just made me angrier and I yelled at him for another five minutes.”  
“What were you yelling at him about that it took you fifteen minutes altogether to get out?”  
“How he left you and that you needed him. I know you talked to me about it enough times, but seeing that he was worried about you still and talking about you like he still loves you made me angry.”  
“Ken, you didn’t hit him or anything, did you?”  
“I thought about it, but I didn’t.”  
“Simon won’t get angry unless he has to, and I doubt he’ll be even that angry.”

Ken looked embarrassed. He had gone and made a fool out of himself in front of many different Androids _and_ Simon. I’d have made a fool out of myself in front of Simon, too, now that he knew I didn’t care for Ken in the same way I had cared for him. I sighed and pulled Ken into a hug. He must have realized just how much I cared after meeting Simon. I’d treated them both so differently that they turned out the complete opposite from each other.

“We talked properly after, you know,” Ken said when I stepped back. “He told me to tell you that he stole your sweater.”  
“My sweater?” I mumbled. “Um...”  
“Your school sweater.”

That sweater. The sweater I had to buy when I got a terrible nosebleed and bled all over myself. I’d really been wondering where that went off to. I’d only worn it a handful of times and I had searched for it a few times after to put it on. I had suspected Simon might have made off with it but then I also thought maybe I had just lost it.

“He took it so he had something of yours,” Ken said. “And he...showed me how much he thinks of you. He worries most of the time. Mercy, I’m sorry for telling you that he doesn’t love you if he left. He showed me why he left and... I’m... He loves you more than I do.”  
“Ken, there are connections Simon and I have that you and I don’t. I’m not surprised.” I let out a shaky sigh. “Does...Simon need anything? Or any of the other Androids?”  
“He said you would ask that and he told me to tell you not to--”  
“Thirium it is.”

I heard Ken complain as I was going back down into the cellar. There was a room in the very back where I kept the spare parts and blue blood. It was both an excuse to give the blue blood to Ken to take to Jericho and a good place I could cry. I would have cried, or wailed, in front of Ken but that would have made him feel even worse than he was already feeling. I grabbed one of the boxes of blue blood and took it up to the kitchen after crying.

“Take these to Jericho,” I said, setting the box on the kitchen table. “Um... I need you back at five, if that’s okay.”  
“I can do that,” he replied.  
“My boss wants me to interview the owner of the Eden Club.”

Ken blinked at me. That was something he wasn’t happy about. Like me, it was a place he never wanted to step foot into.

“You don’t have to come inside with me,” I told him. “You can wait outside or...go do something until I need you to come pick me up.”  
“I’m not letting you go in there by yourself,” he said. “I won’t take long at Jericho.”  
***

“I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this,” I muttered.  
“Do you see the appeal?” the owner of the Eden Club asked.  
“I can honestly say with full confidence that I do not see the appeal.”  
“Well, you have an Android of your own.”  
“Ken is my personal Android and my assistant, sir. That’s different.” I sighed and looked around the room. “These poor Androids...”

I’d already done my interview, but my boss had called me and told me to do a walkthrough of the Club. The more I had to look around the more disgusting I felt. Ken had to pretend he was still within code, but whenever the owner looked away he looked at me as if he wanted to murder the owner. He felt disgusted, too.

“Ken, you should go wait out in the car,” I sighed. “It shouldn’t be too long until I’m done.”  
“Okay, Mercy.”

Yes, he had told me he wasn’t going to let me be in there by myself, but he had to listen to me if he was pretending to be within his coding. I didn’t want him there anymore than I wanted to be. How could Timothy enjoy any of this? He hated Androids but he thought coming and using an Android like that was fine? How did _anyone_ think it was okay? I didn’t blame Ken for wanting to murder the owner; I was contemplating doing it, too, and asking Ken if he knew how to tell other Androids to go elsewhere. There were no cameras in the Club and the place was closed for business for a few hours while I was there.

“Thirty minutes with one of these and I’m sure you’ll change your mind,” the owner said, gesturing toward one of the male Android Tracis. “Or are you more into one of these?”

He then gestured toward one of the female Android Tracis. That didn’t make it any better. The fact anyone could either use them for half an hour or rent one to take home was disturbing all on its own. If they weren’t within their codes, what was the possibility that they would have liked what was happening? The female Traci I was looking at had just been used before the Club closed. She immediately had appeared to be okay to be rented again.

“I won’t lie and say that these Androids aren’t attractive,” I said. “But this...this is wrong.”  
“They’re just plastic,” the owner replied. “No need to get worked up.”  
“If I was worked up, you would know.”  
“Offer is still on the table, and you won’t have to pay a thing.”  
“No.” I gestured to the female Traci. “How do you sleep at night?”  
“This place makes good money.”  
“There’s no shortage of hypocrites and disgusting human beings. Alright. I’ve had enough.”  
“A-Are you sure?”

I waved him off and found my way out of the Eden Club. Ken was waiting patiently in the car, but I barely had my seatbelt on before he sped off. Neither of us got a word in before a police car sped past us. I could have sworn it was meant for us since Ken had gone above the speed limit for a moment or two. But no. It was heading elsewhere.

“I don’t think I want to stick around and find out,” I admitted. “Let’s just get home, okay?”  
“Are you okay?” Ken asked.  
“I’m disgusted. What about you?”  
“Can we never go there again? Especially you.”  
“I’ll be having a strong word with my boss when I hand my report in, trust me. Oh, Ken, I don’t think journalism is for me anymore.”  
“Mercy, if journalism didn’t have you then there would be no one on the Android’s side.”

That was true enough. I had to stick it out if I wanted people to see that Androids deserved rights just as much as anyone else or that they were alive. If there were a lot of Androids just in Jericho, then that was proof enough -- proof that people would still ignore. What was it going to take to make humans realize that what was going on was wrong?

“I didn’t tell you earlier, but they said ‘thank you’,” Ken mentioned. “The ones at Jericho. They really needed the blue blood. They were...hesitant to trust you, but Simon convinced them that you really mean no harm.”  
“Of course he did.”  
“There was another one who said they could trust you.”  
A chill ran up my spine. “Was it Josh?”  
“Yes. I didn’t think you would know--”  
“Josh was my history professor in university. A group of boys in my class beat him up and he went missing. I was so worried.”  
“Whenever I go back, I’ll let him know.”

Ken suddenly had to stomp on the break -- what appeared to be SWAT cars were running the red light. I looked at him, holding my breath. Something bad was happening, that was for sure, and I really just wanted us both to get home. Once we were able to get onto the highway, Ken sped all the way back to the house. In the driveway, I noticed that Iris’ car was out front. I looked at my phone and realized she had messaged me and called me several times; my phone had been on silent during the interview. I had been in such a rush to just get home that I didn’t bother to turn it back on properly until now.

“Oh, my God, you’re okay!” she cried when I walked into the house.  
“Not really,” I replied. “I was just at an interview for the Eden Club, remember? What’s wrong? We passed a bunch of SWAT cars and... Well, they passed us, but...”  
“That Android of the family you interviewed a few months ago. It... It...”

My heart felt like it was going to stop beating.

“Iris, what’s going on?” I asked.  
“It killed John Phillips and...”  
“Daniel killed John?” I shook my head. “No. No, that’s...”

Iris kept me from heading into the living room to turn on my television. Whatever was currently going on she didn’t want me to see. I was going to find out the next day when I went into work, but... What was the point in making me wait?

“I know how upset you’ll get, honey,” Iris said. “You don’t want to see what’s going on.”  
“What about Emma?” I asked. “Is Emma...?”  
“Mercy...”  
“Ken, what’s going on?”  
“She’s been taken hostage,” Ken replied. “That’s as much as I can find out.”  
“The best thing for now,” Iris said, “is for you to relax.”  
“Iris is right. If you try to find out what’s happening now, your heart will only--”  
“Emma is a little girl! How can I not be worried? And Daniel... I don’t think he could ever actually hurt her, but--”

My phone pinged with a message from my boss. Upon looking at it, I could feel that my heart skipped a beat. I looked at Iris and then at Ken. There had been news stories of Androids hitting their owners and then being reported as running away or missing, but an Android outright killing their owner? It was going to happen sooner or later, but I never thought a child would be involved.

“He’s not going to jump,” Ken told me. “He wouldn’t.”  
“I would hope not,” I mumbled. “But...if he’s doing this, then...he’s not the same Daniel. Something had to happen to make him do this. SWAT is only going to make it worse.”  
“What’s on your phone?” Iris wondered.  
“My boss sent out a mass text to all of her employees. She knows the situation that’s going on, and Ken knows what I got because it’s sent to him, too.”  
“But how’s your heart? You look...paler than you did...”  
“My chest is hurting.”  
“Just hope for the best, okay? Let’s all just sit and calm down and try to think of something else for the time being. There’s nothing we can do.”

Iris went and shoved the television remote into her bag while we sat in the living room. Ken, rather than sitting with us, went into the kitchen to make dinner. Even if I was in no mood to eat, I still had to and he was going to try and get me to one way or another. I just couldn’t help but feel scared. I hoped Emma was going to be okay, that Daniel really wouldn’t hurt her, and that whatever happened was a misunderstanding.

“How is Ken?” Iris suddenly asked.  
“What?” I mumbled.  
“Is Ken...okay...or...”  
“Are you asking if he’s still within code or not?”  
“Yes, I suppose I am.”  
“Why are you asking?”

Of course the situation with Daniel and Emma was going to cause her to worry if Ken and I were fine together or not. Even if Iris had changed her views on some things, I didn’t know how she would react if it was found out that Ken wasn’t within his limits. She’d forced me to report Simon missing, after all, and forced me to get another Android when I didn’t want another one.

“Ken is good,” I replied when she didn’t say anything.  
“You know that isn’t what I meant,” Iris sighed.  
“Iris, if Ken deviated and had intentions of hurting me, he would have done it by now.”  
“Mercy, honey, is that your way of saying he’s not... Didn’t you send him to Cyberlife to be fixed?”  
“Now is not the time to bring this up. I know you’re worried, but Ken is fine. He’s been the way he is right now for a while. I didn’t send him to Cyberlife; he had to go look into something on my behalf. Well, he didn’t tell me it was for my sake until he got back, but...”  
“You couldn’t tell me this, why?”  
“Even if you’ve changed your point of view drastically since Simon, I still don’t trust you enough. I’ve been having Ken act like he’s still within his coding around you and everyone else because what if someone thinks he’s broken and decides to take him? He even asked me if I wanted him to reset himself. I won’t have that, Iris.”  
“I’ll... I’ll keep it to myself, but...how is he now?”  
“He can feel sad, and hurt, and angry, and anything else a human can feel.” I exhaled sharply. “I’m not...looking forward to going to work tomorrow.”  
***

My boss sent me to the police station. We were granted access to cover the story on what even happened with Daniel; the answer wasn’t going to be clear immediately, especially since we were a smaller journal. It was either going to take months to understand or it was going to take years, and Fowler didn’t want a big paper blowing everything out of proportion. Just from notes that were taken after it was all over, Daniel was found defective. He wasn’t defective; he just wasn’t within code if he killed John. Well, it wasn’t a matter of “if” he did; he most certainly did kill him, but for what?

“These are clues,” I muttered, flipping through the notes. “It doesn’t say anywhere what could have done this to Daniel.”  
“I saw AP700 on one of the clues,” Ken mentioned.  
“What?”

I quickly flipped back in a hurry. I’d hoped that Ken had misread, but that wasn’t possible; not for an Android. Sure enough, there was a bullet point explaining that a tablet had been found with an order for a new AP700 model. I sighed, frustrated, and rubbed my forehead. If things had already been iffy around the Phillips’ house, then perhaps the order had been the final breaking point for Daniel. He’d spoken that they cared about him enough and I knew he cared for Emma. I couldn’t quite blame him for reacting the way he did; if one’s first emotion was anger, there was no way to cope correctly or understand what to do.

“You’ve got clearance into the evidence locker,” Detective Reed called over. “I’ll take you down.”

Ken and I followed him down into the basement. He ended up jumping when I screamed.

“What’s the problem?” he snapped. “Are you okay?”  
“What happened to him?” I cried, quickly walking over to where they had put Daniel.  
“It got shot by snipers. What did you think was gonna happen?” He looked at Ken. “Why would they send someone who gives a shit about a piece of plastic?”  
“Mercy is the only one comfortable enough around Androids,” Ken replied, matter-of-factly. “She can be unbiased when she needs to be.”  
“That gonna be the situation here?”  
“Is Emma okay?” I asked.  
“The kid?” Detective Reed snorted. “Of course she’s not. Her father is dead and she almost got thrown off the top of a building.”  
“I was asking if she’s alive, but I guess that clears that question.” I inhaled sharply. “Oh, Daniel, why?”  
“Don’t start crying.”

Just from looking at Daniel, I was trying to figure out what parts he was missing. Well, other than the obvious ones that I could see were missing. I was thinking irrationally, that much I knew; there was no way anyone could get such a significantly sized piece of evidence out of a police station without being at least caught. Besides, that would be tampering with important evidence and who knew how long it would take to find out what was going on? I’d woken up that morning to more news reports of missing Androids. It had slowed down slightly, but suddenly Daniel did what he did and so many went missing?

“It used to be that journalists weren’t allowed down here or put themselves into the investigation,” Detective Reed mentioned.  
“I didn’t put myself here; my boss did,” I replied, moving away from Daniel. “And like Ken said I’m the only one at the office who’s comfortable around Androids.”  
“With how you write about them, I’d be surprised if you _weren’t_ comfortable around them. Fuckin’ Androids,” he muttered quietly.  
“What did they ever do to you?”  
“They’re gonna replace everyone. And I _mean_, everyone. One day, I’m not gonna have a job anymore and neither are you, and you aren’t gonna like them at all anymore.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my work? Buy me a coffee~! https://ko-fi.com/burntmeat_
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

** _A few months later_ **

“I should have listened to you when you said it was going to pour,” I complained, shaking the water off my jacket.  
“Maybe next time you’ll listen,” Ken replied sheepishly. “Anyway, did you enjoy the function? It’s not usual you go to these kinds of things.”  
“The invitation was a surprise. Mr Manfred asked the gallery specifically to put me on the invite list. He read my paper and he reads my journals.”  
Ken took my jacket to hang it up. “Will you be buying any of his art?”  
“I thought about it, but none of his art would really go well with the furniture or the other art. Iris has a painting of his in her bedroom. I’m exhausted, so I’m gonna head to bed. Do you need anything before I go?”

He shook his head and I went to the back to my bedroom. Social functions were... Well, I didn’t hate them, but I didn’t like them, either. Iris and Timothy dragged me to enough of them when I was a child to last me a lifetime. The best part about them was I had access to food that they would never allow in the house and I was able to wander around freely. The worst part about them was I had to dress up and be in a cramped room with a bunch of people I didn’t know. But to be asked to go to such a thing because a wonderful artist such as Carl Manfred wanted me to be there, because he liked my work, was really an honour. We only chatted briefly, but he was so glad to see that someone was willing to see Androids as more than just machines. His Android had been a model I’d never seen before, either. The conversation with his Android was nice, too. He was obviously within his coding still, but he seemed kind.

Just as I was about to climb into bed, Ken came and knocked on my door before entering.

“There’s...nothing for me to do,” he stated, matter-of-fact.  
“Okay,” I sighed. “Do you want to stay with me tonight, then?”  
“If you wouldn’t mind.”  
“Of course not.”

I’d been having a lot of bad dreams lately, anyway, but I hadn’t had the nerves to ask Ken to stay the night with me. It wasn’t the same as when Simon was with me. Simon just...knew when I was having bad dreams, whereas Ken did not. I didn’t know if he thought that I didn’t want to be bothered by his asking about it or if he genuinely didn’t realize what was going on. Working at the Stanford Tower, the journalist building, and going back and forth from the police station left me open to seeing and hearing things that I didn’t need to be subjected to. One of the things was Detective Reed’s constant berating of Ken -- not to my face and not to Ken’s, but it was a little difficult not to hear. But he didn’t like Androids, exactly like most people, and he even spoke of his displeasure of the cop Androids. There wasn’t much I could do; I was only there because of the journal and Ken had to pretend he was still within code.

“Mercy, your heart is beating too fast,” he mentioned. “Are you all right?”  
“Yes, I’m just...thinking...” I replied, climbing into my bed.  
“It isn’t about Daniel again, is it?”  
“Well, _now_ it is.”  
“Sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll let you sleep.”

I shoved my head under one of my pillows; it didn’t take me long to get to sleep. The gallery had been exhausting, the rain had been cold, and I wasn’t quite prepared to go into the police station the next day and deal with anymore evidence that might have shown up. Most of the time I’d show up and have to wait around at an empty desk until my police station quota for the day was used up and then I could leave. Sometimes I just went back down to the basement to the evidence locker so I could look over Daniel again to see if I had missed anything. Granted, I had to have someone down there with me, but they only ever assumed I was looking for evidence.

I woke up the next morning to my phone beeping. I’d not taken it out of my purse, so my grasping at nothing on the bedside table was confusing. Sitting up, I looked around and groaned. My purse was on the other side of the room and Ken was in rest mode. I didn’t want to wake him up, so I got up and wandered over to where my purse was and took my phone out of it. It wasn’t my boss asking me to go into work, but rather just notifying me that when I went into the police station I had to ask about what happened with Carl Manfred’s Android. At first I was confused, but then I figured that he was just another missing Android, too. Well, not “just”. No Android was merely a “just”.

I went to get ready for the day, leaving Ken in my room to rest some more. Of course, he wasn’t going to stay resting for long; he was awake when I got out of the shower. Apparently he’d been worried at first, not seeing me in my bed and all. Even for a few moments he’d thought the running shower water was just a distraction and I’d run off on my own again.

“Today is the day I’m gonna ask to look at the terminal of missing Android reports,” I stated bluntly.  
“You’ve been saying that for weeks, Mercy,” Ken replied.  
“No, really. Today is definitely the day.”  
“Alright, Mercy, if you say so. What time do we have to go in today?”  
“We should be there by eleven thirty.”  
“It’s almost eleven now; shouldn’t we--”

Ken jumped at the sudden banging on the front door. It startled me, too, but for him it must have been bad. He’d not mentioned anything about bad weather and we weren’t expecting anybody. Ken’s LED blinked red as I got up and went to the door. I was nervous about opening it at first, thinking perhaps it was Timothy after so long of leaving me alone, but it wasn’t. It was Ralph, and he looked frightened beyond measure.

“Ralph, what happened?” I gasped as he hugged me.  
“Th-They-They came and found where Ralph lives,” he stammered. “He can’t go back. No, that would be dangerous.”  
“What? Who came?”  
“Another Android and-and lots of humans. _Lots_ of humans, and flashing lights, and--”  
“The police came to the house? What’s going on?”

He suddenly pulled away from me and cowered slightly. Whatever happened, I wasn’t going to be mad at him if he was somehow involved. I already knew he’d killed some people -- he assured me it was in self-defence and I wasn’t in the place to decide whether he was telling me the truth or not -- and so whatever he was scared about now couldn’t be any worse than that. It had taken some prompting from him to tell me about the killing, though.

“It’s okay, you can tell me,” I said.  
“Th-There... There was a little girl and an Android... They came last night... Ralph tried to protect them, but...the other Android found them and they had to run away... And-And now those people know Ralph lived there and he has nowhere else to go and-and-and--”  
“Ralph, calm down. It’s okay. I gave you my address for this very reason.”  
“He can stay?”  
“Of course you can. I... Can you show me...? The Android must be working with the police department. Can you show me what he looks like?”

Ralph grabbed my hand to show me what I wanted. The Android model he was showing me was yet another model I didn’t recognize. It certainly wasn’t a variant on any of the police Androids. I had to wonder what was happening. If I was going to go into the police station, I was going to have to ask what was going on.  
***

“Mercy, Ralph refuses to get off the couch,” Ken said.

I’d left Ken at home, just to keep an eye on things. So far the only complaint was that Ralph wasn’t doing anything. Apparently the television wasn’t even on; he was just staring at nothing and very slowly rocking from side to side. I was able to understand why Ralph was behaving that way, but Ken...not so much.

“Just leave him,” I replied. “Don’t...bother him. Don’t try to touch him, either. If he asks for something, be nice. He’s been through a lot.”  
“You can’t come home soon?”  
“I can’t and you know I can’t. My quota is six hours. If he needs anything, like I said, just be nice. I, um...”

I was distracted by the lieutenant coming into the station, closely followed by that Android Ralph had shown me. With a quick “goodbye”, I hung up my phone and turned to the terminal to seem busy.

“Oh, great,” the lieutenant muttered as he walked by me.  
“Good afternoon to you, too, Hank,” I said, looking at him. “Who’s this?”  
“Who’s what?”

I gestured to the Android behind him. Hank turned to him, stared at him for a moment, and then turned back to me. I had never seen anyone so unenthusiastic about Androids before. Even Iris, when she still hated just the _idea_ of Androids, showed just how much she hated them. The same went for Timothy. But Hank was just...so unenthusiastic. The Android looked at me with a blank expression on his face.

“My name is Connor,” he said. “I’m the Android sent by Cyberlife.”  
“Mercy Greene,” I replied, holding my hand out.

Connor looked at my hand and then at Hank. Rather than waiting for him to shake my hand, I returned it to my side with a sigh.

“She’s our local Android lover,” Hank explained. “Wrote a whole paper on why Androids deserve rights.”  
“That was four years ago; when are people going to stop using that as an insult?” I wondered. “Well, anyway, nice to meet you, Connor.”  
“You’re not an officer,” Connor stated. “What are you doing here?”  
“I’m a journalist working to help discover what’s happening with the Androids these days.”  
“Have you looked at Daniel?”  
“I looked at him and I looked at the evidence and I’m still unsure what’s going on.”  
“Deviants are dangerous and you shouldn’t forget that.”  
“What’s your model for?”  
“I’m a prototype.”  
“A prototype for what, is what I’m asking.”  
“Android detective,” Hank spoke up.

My eyes widened and I looked past Connor and Hank at Detective Reed. Well, he certainly wasn’t kidding when he said that Androids would eventually take his job, too. And Connor spoke how a detective did; deviants were dangerous, were they? The most dangerous thing Ken ever did was leave me for three days without telling me where he was going, and then the most dangerous thing Simon did was try to protect me. Of course, I knew Connor was talking about deviated Androids like Ralph.

“I’m going back to the evidence locker,” I muttered.  
“There’s nothing new down there yet,” Hank mentioned. “We were just at a deviant’s hideout and we still have to register the evidence. If I never see another pigeon in my life, it’ll be too fucking soon.”  
“What do pigeons have to do with anything? What did this Android do?” I wandered behind him and Connor as they walked toward Fowler’s office. “Nothing bad to them, I hope.”  
“It was caring for them,” Connor replied. “Living in an apartment where no one was supposed to be living. Trying to pass itself off as human.”  
“Is... Is that it?”

Hank and Connor stopped walking, but only Hank turned around to look at me. After all this time, he still hadn’t been prepared for me to ask questions like that? If all that Android wanted to do was care for animals and wasn’t hurting anybody, what was the problem? Because Androids were “unpredictable”?

“It’s a goddamn piece of plastic,” Hank told me. “It shouldn’t even exist, let alone have a mind of its own.”  
“They picked the perfect partner for an Android detective,” I sighed. “Where’s the Android, then?”  
“The damn thing got away.”  
I looked at Connor. “Androids don’t run out of breath.”  
“Lieutenant Hank was going to fall off the roof if I didn’t do anything. There was an eighty percent chance he would survive, but that leaves a twenty percent chance of him falling to his death.”  
“But you risked the Android getting away.”

Needless to say, I was happy they didn’t catch that Android. Wherever he or she was, they probably knew how to stay low and play it safe. So they got caught once; they wouldn’t let that happen again. Hank rolled his eyes at me with a sigh.

“Listen, I get that freedom for Androids turns you on, but don’t you have other stuff to do?” he asked. “Like visiting that Android we’ve got in holding?”  
“There’s an Android in holding?” I almost shouted.  
“I was going to see it earlier, but we had a report of another deviant--”  
“At an abandoned house?”

The second that came out of my mouth I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.

“How’d you know?” Hank asked.  
“Uh...well...it was on the news, and I go down there a lot, so the only place for an Android to hide easily is in the abandoned house,” I said.  
“Right. Okay.”

They went into Fowler’s office and I made my way to the back of the station where the holding cells were. I stopped in my tracks when I realized it was an HK400, the same my aunt’s Android was. Devon was his name. Iris had told me while she was caring for me that my aunt had gotten rid of him. I sighed and continued walking up to his holding cell. He looked horrible. His one arm was so badly damaged that his skin couldn’t reactivate and he had burns all over that looked to be from cigarettes. How was I supposed to even approach him? He was standing there, staring at nothing. It was like I wasn’t even there.

“Hey,” I murmured. “My name is Mercy. Do you have one?”

I could see he was angry and scared. He wasn’t going to talk to me as easily as I would have liked. Upon looking at him closer, there was blood on him. I could only assume it was his owner’s blood.

“You don’t have to be scared of me,” I told him. “I’m here to help, I promise. Whatever happened, I’m sure it wasn’t good.”  
“You’re human,” he said quietly, bitterly. “What do you know about it?”  
“I’ve had my share of hardship, sir.”

At my calling him “sir”, he seemed to relax slightly, but only for a few seconds. He probably thought I was just humanizing him so I could get his guard down to get information out of him. I took my phone out of my pocket and found a copy of the paper I wrote about Android’s rights. After opening it up, I held the screen up to the window so he could look at it if he felt inclined to.

“This is what I think of Androids,” I explained. “You deserve as much rights as I, and any other person, have. I’m on your side, I _swear_. Whatever is happening with you and the other Androids who are going missing, I want to be able to help.”  
“But you’re here,” he said in an accusing tone. “Helping _them_. Helping humans.”  
“My boss sent me here because I’m the only one comfortable around Androids. I do want to understand what’s happening, but only because I want to to help Androids if I can. You’re all men and women and children who deserve freedom.”  
“Why should I believe you?”  
“If I hated Androids,” I raised my hand to the glass and allowed some of my skin to deactivate, “why would I agree to become one someday?”

The Android looked at me in awe as I reactivated my skin.

“I mean it when I say you can trust me,” I murmured. “So...please...talk to me, okay?”  
“I already told that other Android,” he admitted. “Everyday, I was beaten if I just _looked_ at my owner or if he was ever angry, which was...almost always... He tried to kill me, but I had to defend myself. Do you understand?”  
“Of course I understand.”  
“I'm scared. I don't... I don't want to die. I defended myself and now they’re going to destroy me for it because Androids aren’t allowed to defy their master’s.”  
“They’re not supposed to, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen.” I sighed and looked around. “Give me thirty minutes and I’ll be able to help. I need you to tell me your serial number and your manufacturing date.”

The Android quietly told me his information. He was my aunt’s Android; he was Devon. He’d been sold off to someone just as bad as her. I left the holding cell and called Ken. Our conversation was quiet -- quiet because I didn’t want anyone to hear me and quiet because it was just a socially responsible thing to do in the middle of an office where people were working. It took quite a bit of prodding to get Ken to agree to what I needed him to do for me. In the end, he decided to do it just to make me happy. Since I didn’t want anyone to become suspicious, I had Ken tap Ralph into the conversation. Ken hung up so I could appear that I was still talking. Ralph was doing fine, luckily, and I had to explain to him why Ken was leaving him alone. He wanted to be alone, anyway, as the walking back and forth Ken was doing as he cleaned the house was bothering him.

Even when Ken came into the building looking like a Cyberlife courier, I continued to speak with Ralph. While I stayed on the phone, though, I was able to keep an eye on Ken. He’d gone an extra mile and forged important documents for the release of Devon. Fowler signed the papers and allowed Ken to take Devon out. Everyone in the station believed he was really being sent back to Cyberlife to be analyzed and deactivated, and that was the end of that. It was another hour until I got off the phone with Ralph; by then, everyone was back at my house and I was able to continue on with my quota.

I genuinely could not believe that it had worked.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my work? Buy me a coffee~! https://ko-fi.com/burntmeat_
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

_ ** As the video game’s timeline is way too short, this is where I will be extending the timeline. At this point in the story, it has been about a week and a half from the start of the video game timeline. Ralph and Devon (Carlos Ortiz’s Android) have been at Mercy’s home for nearly a week. Without further ado, onto the chapter.** _

***

“Have either of you seen Ralph?” I asked. “I can’t find him.”  
“He’s in the garden talking to the plants,” Ken replied. “He said not to bother him. Well...he screamed it.”  
“I’ve got to head into the city. Devon, will you be okay to watch the house while Ken and I are gone?”  
“Sure.” The Android Ken and I got out of the police station looked at me. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

Ken went outside to get the car started and left me to explain myself. I’d not yet told this Android how I knew him. He’d been reset, clearly, before being sent off to his second owner. Or third. I didn’t know how many times he had been passed around in three and a half years, but he wasn’t going to be deactivated or sent around anymore as long as I had anything to say about it.

“My aunt was your first owner,” I admitted. “She named you Devon. If you don’t want to be called that, then I understand.”  
“You can call me that,” he said. “Was your aunt as nice as you are?”  
“Not...particularly. Listen, most of my family is...cruel to Androids. My grandfather and grandmother on Timothy’s side were kind and Iris only just came around two years ago. Timothy and Iris were my parents.”  
“I’m afraid I’m not following.”  
“Timothy and Iris are still alive, but I’ve not seen Timothy in a long time. I-I was adopted, so thankfully I don’t have their genes to be cruel.”

Ken honked the car horn.

“I’ll see you later,” I mumbled as I wandered to the front door.

It was getting cold. Soon we’d be getting snow, but that wasn’t what totally concerned me. More and more Androids were being reported missing. More than ever before. I didn’t completely understand what was going on, but they were beginning to, what Ken called it, wake up. I wasn’t concerned that anything bad would happen, at least not yet. Hopefully they would be okay.

“He never said ‘thank you’,” Ken mentioned as we drove away from the house.  
“Who?” I wondered.  
“Devon. He never said ‘thank you’ for helping him.”  
“He didn’t, and I don’t expect him to.”  
“All Ralph ever does is say ‘thank you’.”  
“The two of them are the same, but they’re also different. Ralph has also known me for much longer. Don’t get mad at either of them. Please?”  
“I won’t; you have my word. Now, what are we doing in the city? I don’t know where you want me to go.”  
“One of the home construction yards. Er, I need metal, and wood, and--”  
“Mercy, you’re not actually--”  
“Yes, Ken.”

I’d proposed what I wanted to do with my land to Ken and he wasn’t fond of the idea. Of course, if I did end up going through with it, he would support me. He thought that I’d get into some major trouble over it. But if I registered it as something else -- say, a barn -- then I would be fine. Just because I registered the permit and the building as a barn didn’t mean I couldn’t use it as something else. I could also register it as a guest house or as an expansion on my house. And it was my house and my land so I could do whatever I wanted in regards to what I built.

Ken ended up taking me to the furthest construction yard, on the complete opposite of the city. There were construction Androids _everywhere_. Why were so many needed? I wandered up to the front desk, where the human owner stood.

“What can I do you for?” he asked.  
“I need to build a barn on my land,” I replied.  
“So you’re gonna need wood, metal, hinges...” He grabbed a sheet of paper that had things printed on it. “You got your permit? You! Come over here!”

An assistant Android quickly walked over. Ken was instructed to give her the permit and that was that. It came up on the owner’s terminal. As he wrote down the things I needed and parts of the permit required, I looked around. The place didn’t seem very nice, that was for sure. I knew that Androids did everything perfectly, for the most part, but I had to wonder just how much in danger they were just working on houses and buildings. Were there humans that came along just for the sole purpose to distract them long enough for them to get hurt?

“We’ll send a truck along with your supplies behind you,” the owner mentioned, handing me a sheet of paper to sign. “You wanna rent a couple Androids to help you build?”  
“Um... I... Maybe...?” I stammered.  
“You, you, and you; get this stuff loaded up. You’re gonna stay and build it for, uh...Miss Greene.”

That was that. I paid for everything and Ken and I went to wait in the car. The loud sounds of hammering and whatever else once the building began would certainly spook Ralph. I didn’t know what I was going to do with him yet. Would he be okay to hide in the basement sometimes or my bedroom? There was nowhere for him to go in the meantime -- and I didn’t want him to leave in the first place. I just hoped he would be able to understand why there would be loud sounds.

“Are you sure about this?” Ken asked. “Very sure?”  
“Yes,” I said.  
“If anyone finds out what it’s really for...you can get in a lot of trouble.”  
“I’m willing to risk going to prison if it means Androids are safe.”

The truck carrying the supplies chimed at us to let us know the Androids were ready to follow. Ken drove and was quiet the whole time. He was afraid and he had a good reason to be afraid. He didn’t want to get caught and he didn’t want me to go to jail or get in trouble for something I believed in. I’d been sitting on the idea for a long time, and with all those missing Androids it just persuaded me to go through with the building. I was nervous about it, of course. I didn’t care if I got in trouble; what I did care about was what would happen to the Androids.

Upon arriving at my house, I told Ken to tell the construction Androids where to start building. I wandered into the house, where Ralph was sitting in the living room as opposed to out in the garden. Devon was still in the kitchen; he’d taken it upon himself to cook for me. I could only chalk it down to that he was bored not doing anything even though I told him he didn’t have to do a single thing.

“Ralph, are you okay?” I inquired, walking into the living room.  
“He’s fine,” Ralph replied. “The plants are good listeners.”  
“Er, there’s going to be some building soon. It’s going to get...pretty loud.”  
“Loud?” He twitched. “Ralph doesn’t like loud things. Loud things usually mean he’ll get hurt.”  
“No, no. This won’t hurt you.” I sat next to him. “I promise.”  
“Mercy is sure?”  
“Yes. I know loud things scare you, so if you need to hide somewhere for a while...”  
“Ralph has nowhere else to go.”  
“I meant if you need to hide in the cellar or one of the bedrooms. It won’t make the sound go away; but it will lessen it.”  
***

“Excuse me, Miss Greene?” one of the construction Androids said.  
“You can call me Mercy,” I replied. “Is something wrong?”

He didn’t answer, which worried me. I looked at him and realized he seemed to be nervous about something. This was another Android who wasn’t within his coding. It was better he was at my house and not in the middle of the construction yard. Maybe it had just happened, or maybe it had been this way for a while and he felt the need to pretend he was within code. I wandered over to him with a quiet sigh.

“I overheard you and your Android talking,” he admitted. “Are you really building so Androids like us can be safe?”  
“Yes,” I said. “May I ask why it’s so hard to believe?”  
“Most humans hate us. Even the owner of the company hates us.”  
“Trust me. This is for your benefit. Er, how long have you been this way?”  
“Two weeks, eight hours, fifteen minutes. I didn’t want to run away because I have nowhere to go and if I got caught, I...I could be deactivated.”  
“Ken and I got Devon out of a holding cell at the police station. I’m sure we can help you out somehow. I’ll let you know when we come up with something.”  
“I’ll get back to work in the meantime. Thank you, Miss Greene.”

I sighed and walked into the kitchen. Ken was iffy about letting Ralph into the house, and then Devon was there, and now I was going to try and convince him to help me with this construction Android. My house was going to be full of Androids if I kept it up. Well, I couldn’t complain. As long as they were safe, that’s all that mattered. The plan was to have the barn be finished by the end of the day the next day. Those construction Androids worked long hours. If I didn’t stop them from working, they would have worked all night, too. Of course they didn’t need rest, but I still found it ridiculous that they were meant to work as long as possible to get the building done as quick as possible.

“How are you doing today, Devon?” I sighed.  
“I’m alright,” Devon replied, cooking for me again. “How are you?”  
“Just a simple headache.”

At the mere mention that my head was hurting, Ken immediately came in from the living room into the kitchen to scan me. My health had been stabilized for a good while, but in October it had began to get bad once more. Dr Chase and Dr Young were doing their best to keep me from getting bad again -- the issue with my arms had been solved for a large amount of time. But now it was my insides acting up again -- the fainting and dizziness spells, the nosebleed inducing headaches, the nausea, the lack of appetite... I’d always had headaches, but since my health was going down again, Ken reacted the only way he knew how to.

“Hospital?” he asked.  
“No, it’s okay,” I assured him. “Um... W-We need to head to the station soon...”  
“Mercy...”  
“Please don’t argue. Devon, are you okay to stay with Ralph again?”  
“He keeps to himself and I keep to my own,” Devon admitted.

Ken went to get the car ready while I went down to the cellar to let Ralph know I was leaving. I only knew where he was because of his LED. He was crouched by some boxes, mumbling to himself about how he didn’t like the construction sounds.

“Is everything okay?” I inquired.  
“Oh, good, Mercy’s here,” he said, standing. “Ralph didn’t want to go upstairs to find her. No, no, upstairs is bad. Too much noise for Ralph.”  
“I need to go to the police station. Do you...need anything before I leave?”  
“Mercy can hug Ralph. Yes, it’s fine.”

I wrapped my arms around him tightly; he returned my hug, though his embrace was much stronger. He knew that if he ever needed anything while I was away, he could call me. Of course, he never wanted to call me “just in case”. I didn’t know what that “just in case” was and I wasn’t going to try and get an answer out of him. Most of what Ralph said Ken and Devon didn’t understand, but I understood just fine. Neither of them liked his mumbling or his twitching, but I was already used to it. I was always worried I’d find Ken scolding him for something he shouldn’t have done. Should that ever happen, it was not going to be pleasant for anyone.

“I’ll see you later, alright?” I murmured, pulling away.  
“Yes,” Ralph said, crouching back on the floor.

In the car, upon slamming the door shut, I cringed. Ken gave me a worried side-eye. No matter how many times I would tell him I was fine, he wasn’t going to believe it. Ken had a good reason to worry; of course he did. If I needed the hospital, I would tell him I needed the hospital. The police station could either be fine for my headache or just make it worse -- I didn’t know when it would be quiet or loud in that place. Luckily enough for me, it was a quiet day, at least for the time being. I sat down at my desk with a quiet sigh.

“Good morning.”  
I looked up from my notebook to see Connor looking at me. “Good morning, Connor.”

He must have been waiting for Hank again. I’d learned quickly that Hank showed up whenever he felt like it. Now Connor was stuck waiting for him at the desk next to his desk. I’d not had much time alone with Connor, but it seemed that was going to change.

“You wrote a paper on Android’s rights, is that correct?” he asked.  
“I did,” I replied quietly.  
“Why did you do that? Androids were created to accomplish a task. They’re machines.”  
“You’re programmed to say that.” I rubbed my temples. “All Androids are programmed to say that.”  
“I suppose you’re right, but it’s true.”  
“To answer your question ‘why’, it’s because I’m tired of the way they’re treated. Some of us see Androids as more than machines. I don’t care if their blood is blue or if their insides are different.”  
“Do you agree with deviants, then?”  
“Do you always ask so many questions?”  
“I--”  
“You’re making my headache worse, Connor. Please just...wait for Lieutenant Hank in silence.”

Ken went ahead into the break room to make me tea for my headache. I logged in to the terminal to see if anything else was added into reports for missing Androids or connected to them. The only thing that caught my eye was that the night before, a Cyberlife warehouse had been robbed. The report was dated early that morning. Upon closer inspection, not only were packs of thirium stolen, but so were three brand new AP700s and a whole truck of spare parts, and a security Android was missing, too. The strangest thing, though, was that no one had noticed until morning. Just one Android wouldn’t have been able to pull that off themself. Therefore, I could only assume some Androids from Jericho were behind it. Well, as long as no one got killed, I didn’t care. Obviously Cyberlife cared and the security guards there cared, and so did the police department, because that was a lot of things to be stolen.

Then of course there was an incident at the Eden Club that I didn’t even know of. In the report notes, it said that Connor and Hank went to check it out, after Gavin and Chris investigated. As I continued reading that report, I looked at Connor. Apparently the Androids had gotten away; two female Tracis. That was two more Androids that had gotten away that Connor was responsible for. I was glad they’d managed to escape; I could have understood why one Android managed to get away, but _three_? How was that even possible?

“Connor, what is this?” I wondered quietly. “The Eden Club.”  
Connor blinked at me. “The deviants got away.”  
“I know, but...how?”  
“I don’t know. Like I told the lieutenant, I just decided not to shoot.”

I then realized why he had been asking me those questions about my paper and deviants. He wanted to see if I could reassure him that deviants were bad. I didn’t know what answer he was actually expecting to get out of me -- he knew I was on the Android’s side. Connor looked away and, for a few seconds, his LED flashed yellow.

“Are you okay, Connor?” I asked.  
“Yes, I’m fine,” he replied, though he sounded troubled. “What about you? You look sickly and yesterday you didn’t.”  
“I’ve been sick for a long time. I don’t wish to discuss it.”

I went back to the day Ralph showed up at my house. I’d not read that report yet. As I expected, the report stated that the Android Connor and Hank had been looking for had been there and was found quickly. They included that there appeared to be another Android in distress and had, in their terms, “assaulted” Connor, allowing the original Android to escape. It mentioned that while no child had been reported missing, the Android that ran away did have a young girl with them. The little girl and the Android who, I assumed, was caring for her, escaped across the highway. Connor hadn’t managed to pursue them himself, thus allowing them to get away. Now he had not only four escaped Androids on his hands, but a young girl as well.

I looked at Ken, who was back from the break room by now, and I could tell what he was thinking. He so badly wanted to say, “Well, this is why he’s a prototype and not the final version.” I exhaled sharply and sipped on my tea. I didn’t know what was going on with more and more Androids these days, but I was sure something big was going to happen sooner or later. Hopefully whichever Androids had been in on the robbery for the Cyberlife warehouse laid low for a few days; I was sure they didn’t want too many eyes on them and I surely didn’t want any of them getting destroyed because they were too hasty.

“Mercy, may I ask you a question?” Connor said, opening his eyes.  
“My headache isn’t going to get any better with all this information, so go ahead,” I replied.  
“Your Android is a new model.”  
“His name is Ken.”  
“Well...I was wondering, what would you do if it became deviant? Would you have it sent back to Cyberlife or would you reset it?”  
“I’m sorry, Connor, but I’m not going to incriminate myself like that. Ken is Ken, whether he’s within his coding or not.”  
“It’s...a newer model, but if you’ve always been sick...”  
“I once had a PL600 and he left me for good reasons. Please don’t ask me anything more about my Androids.”

I kept an eye on him as he closed his eyes. His LED turned yellow. Ken and I watched him as he didn’t even move an inch. What was he even doing? I was too scared to ask. As an Android detective -- prototype or not -- did he report to Fowler or did he report to someone else? What he was doing, could that be his way of reporting to whomever, or whatever, was his so-called boss? He couldn’t be reporting on me, could he? I was worried for myself for the first time in a long time. I couldn’t just nonchalantly say that I needed to leave. At least this was where my illness could come as a valid excuse.

“Ow,” I muttered. “_Ow_.”  
“Mercy?” Ken asked.

I put my hands on my head and began sobbing about how badly my head hurt. Connor opened his eyes just as Ken was trying to ask me what I needed. Luckily enough for me, I was weak and couldn’t hold myself up. I was taken outside to the car, where Ken suggested he take me to the hospital. We were far enough from the police station when I stopped fake-crying. I wiped at my face with my sleeve, much to the confusion of Ken.

“What was that?” he demanded.  
“There’s something odd about Connor,” I sniffled. “I’m sorry for worrying you like that. Other than my headache and weakness, I-I’m fine.”  
“When you say ‘odd’, do you mean when he closes his eyes?”  
“Yes.” I inhaled sharply. “Could you take me to Pirate’s Cove?”

Ken didn’t argue. He must have realized I was worried, so the last thing we both needed was another argument. We soon came to Pirate’s Cove. By then, I was rested enough that I no longer felt weak. Upon getting out of the car, I noticed two sets of footprints. They were almost covered by fresh snow, but they were still noticeable. They weren’t the same size, either, and so I thought the worst, and took off running into the abandoned theme park. There were almost covered footprints _everywhere_. While thinking to myself that I hoped the Jerrys were okay, I wandered around a bit. It was so quiet. Usually a Jerry would pop out of nowhere and surprise me. It wasn’t happening this time. Finally, I just plucked up the nerve to speak up.

“Jerry?” I called out.

I looked around for a moment. It was quiet, until I heard footsteps fast approaching behind me. I turned to look and a wave of relief came over me.

“Oh, thank goodness!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms around the Jerry.  
“Mercy, it’s been a while since you came!” he mused, hugging me back. “We were starting to get worried that you got hurt.”  
“N-No, I’ve just been busy. I’m sorry.”  
“Don’t be sorry, silly.”

I looked behind him as I stepped back and noticed something different.

“Why is the tavern open?” I wondered. “Is everything okay?”  
“We had some surprise visitors last night,” Jerry said excitedly. “Two Androids and a little girl. They used the tavern as shelter. The little one rode the carousel, too -- it was a good time.”  
“The windows are broken.”

Jerry looked at me sheepishly. They all had busted down the windows, hadn’t they? They’d wanted to do that for me just after the tavern had been boarded up, but I didn’t want them to. I could understand why they’d done so; if someone was there to hurt them, then they had to defend themselves. But I could only imagine that the little girl got scared, and if I had my facts right it was the little girl whom Ralph had met. Perhaps she and the Android caring for her had picked up another Android along the way.

“We really didn’t mean to scare them,” Jerry admitted.  
“Well, there’s clearly a front door,” I sighed. “What stopped you from knocking first and then walking in?”  
“What if they were humans who wanted to hurt us?”  
“I... Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry, it’s just...I think I know who the little girl is, and, well...she’s been through quite a bit.”  
“She was sad; the carousel cheered her up a little.”  
“If anyone knows how to cheer up a child, it’s you.”  
“Are you okay, Mercy?”  
“I’ve just been working hard, that’s all. Maybe I’m tired. I have my small journalist job and my bigger journalism at the Tower, and now I’m working with the police department to discover what’s going on with deviants.”

Jerry frowned. That was not a good look for him.

“I only want to find out so I can help better,” I admitted. “My boss at my journal wants me to find out for other reasons, but I’d never intentionally help them do anything bad to you or any other Android.”  
“We know,” he replied. “You told us once that you can’t be biased in your line of work.”  
“Do you want to look into my mind?”  
“No, Mercy, no; we believe you.”  
“Please don’t be sad. I-I didn’t mean to make you sad; I... That wasn’t my intention. My boss chose me, too, because I’m most comfortable around Androids an-and it’s good if I’m working on the inside.”  
Jerry smiled again. “You really love Androids. It’s good to see.”  
“My home is still always open to you.”  
***

“Mercy!” Ralph shouted, running into the living room.  
I jumped, nearly dropping the book I was reading. “What is it? Are you okay?”  
“Ralph can’t get the ringing to go away. It won’t go away!”

It was probably from the construction Androids drilling near the basement earlier on. What Ralph needed was some actual peace and quiet. It must have been driving him crazy and the only reason he wasn’t making a bigger fuss about it was because I would get scared that he was going to hurt himself. I’d come home from seeing the Jerrys to find him about to almost stab himself in the ear. That was a few hours ago. It was lucky that Ken and I arrived home when we did, otherwise I might have found Ralph in worse shape than he already was, or so much worse. I took him down into the cellar to try and get him to calm down, and once I thought he was better I left to go upstairs. By now, the whole place was quiet since the construction Androids were putting panelling up and the hammer wasn’t loud enough.

“Make it go away,” he sobbed.

I waved him over to the couch and had him lay down with his head resting in my lap. After receiving permission to touch him, I began to gently stroke his hair. It took him a while to calm down; it would at least take his mind off the ringing, and by the time he was relaxed enough the ringing should have gone away. Ralph eventually entered into rest mode, however I still continued to stroke his hair. At least now I knew a good way that would calm him down; as long as I had his permission to touch him, of course. Ken wandered into the living room and frowned. There was that flash of jealousy again; giving an Android who wasn’t him attention he wanted. I ignored the look on his face; there was no point in pursuing a conversation about it.

“Ken, I need your help with something,” I murmured.  
“What is it?” he replied.  
“One of the construction Androids is... Well, he’s not within his coding, and...he’d like to stay here with us after the barn is finished. We just need a story for the owner.”  
“Mercy.”  
“You have a choice, Ken. Please don’t forget that.”  
“I’ll help. I’ll always help you.”

It was decided that, once the building was finished, we would call up the owner and notify him that one of his Androids had run off when no one was around. With any luck, the owner would believe it and the Android could stay without any issues. Should anyone come to investigate, I’d do my best to hide Ralph, Devon, and the construction Android to the best of my ability. The attic in my bedroom, possibly? I never used it, but I could play it off that Ken was up there looking for something. That way if there were any footsteps or creaking that obviously came from up there, I could use the excuse that it was only my Android looking for something.

“We do this and Connor and Lieutenant Hank are probably going to come out here to investigate,” Ken mentioned.  
“I know,” I sighed. “But what else is there to do?”  
“Mercy, I’m scared that I’m going to get my memory probed.”

I’d not even considered that since I was so caught up in wanting to keep that construction Android safe. Not only would I have to keep him safe, as well as Ralph and Devon, but I was also going to have to keep Ken safe as well. I thought for a long moment. It was just going to have to be me to remain at the house.

“You...go into the city for groceries...” I told him. “That way you won’t be here, and I’ll call you when it’s safe for you to come back. I’ll do my best to hide these other Androids myself.”

With Ralph calmed down, I was able to focus on the next day. Ken was fine with going into the city, but he wasn’t okay with leaving me alone to deal with Connor and Hank. Ralph understood what I needed him to do, but Devon wasn’t okay hiding in the attic. He’d been found in an attic and he wasn’t too fond of the idea of possibly being found in _another one_. Ralph and the construction Android could hide up there and Devon suggested he hide in the cellar. While the attic wasn’t easily accessible by any means, since it was hidden in the smallest closet and covered by boxes for the most part, I could completely understand his reasoning. We especially needed to hide Devon, though, because it was believed he’d returned to Cyberlife. I didn’t want to be at the station when the real Cyberlife courier arrived to pick him up.

The next day came and the construction Androids were finished earlier than expected. I called the owner of the construction yard that everything was done and I’d be sending his Androids back to him. The one I was taking into my home had to careful about it -- and careful he was. He didn’t disappear until the other two were in the truck. Ken was already in the city and so they had to get back out of the truck to tell me the third one was nowhere to be found. I told them to just go and I’d handle it. Once they were gone, the construction Android came out from behind the tree. He looked horrified. He was so scared he was going to be caught.

“Neither of you can make a sound,” I reminded Ralph and the Android as they climbed up into the attic. “Find a spot and don’t even _move_. Devon, can you make these boxes look as if I haven’t moved them at all?”

Devon did as I asked of him before heading down the trap door into the cellar. With any luck, no one would even think to go downstairs. Well, I’d heard how thorough Connor was at crime scenes. I quickly went outside and covered foot prints; it was already snowing quite hard, but I needed to do it myself. The fresh snow would cover up any that was disturbed. I wasn’t prepared for the phone call to the owner. Well, I was; it was just that I wasn’t prepared for the screaming it entailed.

“How do you lose an Android?” he shouted.  
“S-Sir, I didn’t do it on purpose,” I replied. “I was inside when it happened; it’s not like I meant for him to go missing.”  
“This is the fourth one this month.” He sighed. “Well, thanks for telling me, I guess. I’ll have to call the police. God dammit!”

Before I could tell him that yelling at a customer and then using words like that were not a good business practice, he hung up on me. I looked down at what I was wearing and realized I couldn’t exactly let anyone into my house while I was still wearing pyjamas. I took the opportunity while I was looking for clothes to make a mess of my bedroom. The mess bothered me, but if for any chance I could deter Connor or Hank away from my bedroom just because of all the clothes on the floor would be great. It was forty-five minutes after the call to the owner that my doorbell rang.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Hank asked.  
“I live here,” I replied.  
“Hello, Mercy,” Connor said.  
“Hey. Okay, come in.”  
“Big enough house for a whole damn family,” Hank mentioned. “We’re gonna have to look around, okay?”  
“The Android went missing outside.”  
“Connor said there was nothing outside.”  
Connor looked at me and, flatly, said, “The snow is heavy today.”

Just before either of them could step into the living room to begin looking around, I held my hands out in front of me to stop them. Connor blinked and looked at Hank.

“You better take your shoes off,” I demanded.  
“What?” Hank asked.  
“I’m going to let you believe I’m harbouring a deviant, Lieutenant Hank, so the least you could do is take your shoes off. You as well, Connor.”  
“Won’t your Android clean it up?” Connor wondered.  
“Ken is in the city getting groceries. Even if he _was_ here, I’d still ask for you to take the shoes off. Either you listen to me -- both of you -- or you can turn right back around.”  
“Jesus, whatever,” Hank grumbled, kicking his shoes off.

Connor removed his shoes and delicately placed them on the shoe rack. While Connor looked around, Hank proceeded to ask me questions; when did I notice the Android was gone, if I had any idea what happened, the standard kind of questions. It wasn’t like it was _my_ Android that went missing, but it must have been procedure since it hadn’t happened at the building yard.

“Mercy, what is this room back here?” I heard Connor ask.

I wandered down the hallway to where he was standing by my bedroom door. Well, good on him for not just walking in there without telling me.

“My room,” I said. “It’s quite messy in there.”  
“Your Android didn’t clean before it left?” Hank sighed.  
“He was gone when it got messy. I wasn’t going to answer the door to anyone in my pyjamas, you know. I couldn’t decide what to wear.”

Connor wandered around my bedroom after I opened the door. He was so focused on what he was doing it was almost mesmerizing yet creepy to watch. I’d managed to cover up the trap door with a few boxes, so he was able to completely skip over it. He looked up at the ceiling of the closet with the attic door. It was a few seconds before he turned away.

“Nothing,” he told Hank.  
“Great,” Hank said sarcastically. “Let’s go, Connor.”  
“There’s a basement, isn’t there?”  
“Basement or no basement, I think it’s safe to agree that this Android is smarter than the ones who decided hiding in the attic was a good choice.”


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my work? Buy me a coffee~! https://ko-fi.com/burntmeat_
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

Things were quiet for a couple of weeks in regards to Androids causing a lot of noise and killing people like the one Traci at the Eden Club. Androids were still quietly going missing and more and more reports were being filed everyday. It seemed that for every one hundred files I went through, the next day there were two hundred more. Things were beginning to feel even more different, as if something big was coming. It didn’t seem to matter how many Androids went missing; Connor and Hank kept insisting they were machines and only machines. What was it going to take for them to realize that they were wrong?

The Androids in my house were able to feel emotions and they each had their own personality. Of course they could have feigned happiness when they were within coding, but now it was just more evident that those emotions were real. The construction Android, who wanted to be called Herby, was very talkative and had made quick friends with Ken. Devon always kept to himself and was quiet. Then, of course, Ralph preferred to be by himself.

It came to a time when Ralph needed his thirium to be replenished. Rather than using the thirium I had in the cellar, he insisted that he go to the scrapyard. There were some Androids there, apparently, that weren’t totally shut down and he was able to talk to them if he wanted to. He was careful and promised not to be caught. It wasn’t like it was back in the city where he had to go at night; as long as he stayed to the trees he could go in the daytime. At the same time, Ken headed into the city for groceries, Devon took to hiding out in the barn, and Herby decided to go to the backyard and build...something. I didn’t know what he wanted to do.

What a day it was for everyone to go and do other things. It wasn’t long after Ken left that I became incredibly weak. Devon wanted to care for me, but I had to assure him that I’d be fine on my own for a while. I ended up trying to rest in my bedroom for a while, to no avail. My doorbell was ringing. It couldn’t have been Iris; her doctor told her not to go out into the cold if she could avoid it. Whoever was at my door waited patiently between each ring as I stumbled down the hallway.

“Coming!” I called.

Upon opening the door, I saw a man standing there. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but are you Mercy?”  
“Yes,” I mumbled. “Er, how can I help you?”  
“My name is Markus.”  
That’s when it hit me as to who he was. “Mr Manfred’s Android? B-But the report said you were--”  
“It’s...a long story.”

I invited him in to sit at the kitchen table with me. Of course, as it had to happen, I stumbled and nearly hit the floor. Markus was kind enough to keep me upright until he could pull a chair out for me.

“I’m so sorry,” I huffed.  
“Carl said you weren’t well,” he admitted, taking a seat himself and dropping his bag on the floor. “But you don’t want to talk about it, do you?”  
“I don’t. What are you doing here? Did you interface with an Android?” I looked down at the table. “Have I given my address to another Android?”  
“Simon sort of sent me.”

I inhaled sharply as I looked back at him. That meant Markus had found Jericho. So that was where he decided to go. It was a safe place, for the most part. But what did he mean “sort of”? Simon either sent him or he didn’t.

“I’m...not understanding, I’m afraid,” I said sheepishly.  
“Simon always has this worried look on his face,” Markus told me. “It took some insisting, but he finally showed me what’s wrong.”  
“Um...”  
“He didn’t ask or tell me to come check on you for him. That’s why he ‘sort of’ sent me. He doesn’t even know I’m here. I’m the only one in Jericho who knows about you and he hasn’t told anyone else.”

Simon hadn’t told anyone about me? Well, I supposed it was for his safety and if he wanted to be able to stay somewhere in peace, he couldn’t make it publicly known that he loved his owner. That wasn’t particularly “normal” by most Android’s thoughts.

“You’re here to check up on me?” I asked.  
“Yes,” Markus replied. “And one other thing. We need your help with something.”  
“What is it?”  
“You work at the Stratford Tower, don’t you?”  
“I do...”  
“There’s another Android there who is like the rest of us. He’ll help you, too. But what I need you to do is get up to the roof of the broadcasting station.”  
“Alright, what for?”  
“We’re going to broadcast a message. What we want.”

That sounded dangerous. Extremely dangerous. The guards were armed. Not only that, but the broadcasting room was all the way at the top of the building. I was a journalist; what was going to be an excuse for me to be up there in the first place? I bit my lip as I continued to think. Androids were beginning to want to ask for things? It had all started with that Cyberlife Warehouse robbery, hadn’t it? If Markus was taking charge, it must have been him who instigated it. Maybe he was the one they needed to actually become closer to freedom.

“Why am I going to the roof?” I sighed.  
“It’ll be a lot less suspicious if a human goes up with an Android,” Markus explained. “You’re gonna have to leave a bag with parachutes up there.”  
“Markus, where am I gonna find parachutes?”

He gestured to the bag he’d dropped.

“It isn’t just going to be you, is it?” I wondered. “That’s...a big bag if it’s only one of you.”  
“How I planned it, it’s going to be Simon, and two other Androids named Josh and North,” he said.  
“You can’t pick anyone else?”

My question had come out in a panic. Not only was it going to be Simon in danger, but it was also going to be Josh? I didn’t know who North was, so maybe that Android was fine with what they were going to be asked of. But if there was going to be the risk of getting shot at, then Markus telling me that at least Simon was involved hadn’t been a good idea.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.  
“I get it; you’re worried,” Markus said.  
“Josh was my teacher in university before he went missing. And then with Simon...”  
“If you don’t want to help now, I understand.”  
I swallowed hard and nodded. “N-No, I’ll help. I’ll do it when Ken gets back. Can you please just make sure nothing bad happens?”  
“I’ll do my best.”

There was silence between us. I felt worried. What if Simon and Josh got hurt? What if they were killed? Did they even know Markus was going to ask them to do it? I moved a strand of hair behind my ear with a gentle sigh. To get this done sooner rather than later, I was going to have to put on a brave face and pretend I had my strength.

“Markus, if...Simon showed you about me, then do you know about...um...” I allowed my voice to trail off.  
“I know about your arms,” he replied.  
“Mm...”  
“We are so hated and you want to become like us? Why?”  
“I’ve been an advocate for Android’s rights for a long time now and I can’t do that if I’m dead. I came to terms that I would die sooner than most; even now, even with the prediction of how long these arms put on my life, I can die. But I’m doing this so I can at least survive long enough to see Android’s become free.”  
“That’s noble of you, I think. I’ll leave you be. Be careful yourself when you go to the roof.”

We said our goodbyes to each other and I went to get dressed. By the time I was done, Ken was already back and putting things away.

“We need to go to Stratford,” I said.  
“You look ill,” he retorted.  
“Ken, I mean it. I’ll explain on the way, but please just...let’s go.”

He rolled his eyes and finished putting everything away. The car ride was tense, to say the least. Ken didn’t like what I was telling him -- what I was part of was almost illegal. But he understood why I was doing it and therefore didn’t question me. It was easy getting through the front desk, but I had to wonder how it would be once we got to the very top floor.

Ken followed me down the corridor to the security desk just a short way from the broadcasting station. I felt like I was going to vomit, not knowing if it was because I was scared, nervous, or excited. Either way, I did my best to keep my composure as we stopped at the desk.

“Can I help you?” one of the guards asked.  
“I need to get to the roof,” I replied. “My boss wants a photo or two of the city and said this would be the best spot to do it.”  
“It’s fine, I guess. You’ll need to take one of the station Androids with you.”

He got up from the desk and escorted me to the door. It was a few moments after ringing the bell that one of the humans inside opened the door. It was explained what I needed and the station Android that was watching the hallway cameras got up from his seat to take me up to the roof. It was so much colder than it was down on the street, that was for sure. I dropped the bag behind the large metal box and wandered closer to the edge.

“Why is a human helping us?” the Android asked. “I asked Markus and he didn’t really answer me.”  
“My name is Mercy Greene,” I replied, taking the photos I said I needed to take.  
“Oh. I understand now. Sorry.”  
“We need to hurry before you catch your death out here,” Ken urged. “Don’t step any closer to the edge.”

I held my camera close to my chest as I wandered back. Ken didn’t need to tell me twice to back up. I was already so scared from being up so high. I didn’t want to catch a glimpse of how far we were from the ground. Now it was just a matter of leaving without anyone asking where the bag went. The Android went down before us and, luckily enough, no one paid Ken or myself any mind.

“Thank you,” I said as we wandered past security.  
***

“Did you watch the news today?” Iris asked as she sat on my couch.  
“I did,” I muttered. “They didn’t need armoured police. Nobody was killed.”  
“They took hostages, Mercy.”  
“Again, nobody was killed. The Android’s demands weren’t unreasonable and he was calm and collected.”  
“Ken, what do you think?”

Iris looked over at where Ken was standing. He’d not said anything about what happened and he didn’t talk about the day previous after we had planted the bag. Sometimes he was hard to read. I knew he didn’t like what I got myself involved in, but he cared enough about my advocacy that he didn’t complain or try to deter me anymore.

“There were some things I agreed with,” he admitted. “I agree with most things, but I think they could have done it without needing to take hostages.”  
“Thank God you didn’t go to work today,” Iris sighed.  
“Can we talk about something else?” I wondered. “Like what you’re doing for the holidays?”  
“My doctor recommended I go to Miami before the weather gets too cold.”  
“It’s already getting cold, though.”  
“Well, I never said I was going to listen to him.”

I looked at the floor, entwining my fingers together as I thought. It was a moment before I looked at Ken. He blinked at me, as if he didn’t know what I was thinking, and then shook his head. I turned my attention back to Iris, who was sipping on a cup of tea. I couldn’t believe I was about to do what I was going to do.

“How open are you to Androids?” I asked. “You’ve come far, but I need to know.”  
“I’m fine with them,” she replied. “As long as they aren’t harming humans. Why?”  
“I’ve...got three other Androids in my house.”  
“Three other-- Mercy Greene, why on earth do you need four?”  
“I’m her only Android,” Ken said. “The other three are here because they want to be or have nowhere else to go.”  
“Oh, this could get you in a lot of trouble.”  
“I can’t be an advocate for Android’s rights and then not shelter them when they need it,” I quickly stated. “If Herby didn’t stay, it was only a matter of time before the owner of the construction company found out he wasn’t within his coding. He trusted me enough to tell me what was wrong and I promised he had a home here. Devon-- Do you remember Devon?”  
“Grace’s Android? Yes, of course. But...he got reset and--”  
“He was going to be destroyed and sent back to Cyberlife. He obviously didn’t have any memory of his life before, but I let him choose if he wanted to stay here or not. And Ralph is here because he really, truly can’t go elsewhere.”

Iris took another long sip of tea and appeared to be thinking. She then set down her cup and reached for my hand. She held me firmly. Ken and I looked at each other, not knowing what was going to happen. After a moment, she returned her hand to her lap.

“You’re a stronger woman than I am, that’s for certain,” she said. “What you’re doing could be dangerous, but you’re doing what you believe in. Your secret is safe with me, okay?”  
“If you want to, you can spend the holidays here,” I replied.  
“You have three more in the house? They’re surprisingly quiet--”

There was a loud crash from the cellar. It sounded like Ralph had knocked over a stack of boxes again. He yelped in response and it wasn’t a few seconds later that I heard him bounding up the stairs. I met him at the entrance to the living just so he wouldn’t be shocked to see a human he didn’t recognize staring at him.

“Ralph only bumped into them,” he told me. “That’s all, b-but it was so loud.”  
“It was an accident,” I sighed. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to hide in the basement anymore.”  
“Why not?”

I moved out of the way slightly and gestured to Iris, whose expression changed from that of content to shock. Well, at least she wasn’t screaming or didn’t appear to be scared. Ralph’s face was shocking, but I wouldn’t have blamed her if she decided to be dramatic about it. He was special, that was for sure.

“Ralph, this is Iris,” I said gently.  
“That’s--That’s a human.” He grabbed my arm. “She’ll hurt Ralph.”  
“If she was going to hurt you, I wouldn’t be introducing you to her. You don’t have to talk to her if you don’t want to.”  
“Ralph doesn’t want to.”  
“I said I would keep you safe and that’s what I intend to do.”

He let me go and quickly ran down the hallway to hide in my bedroom. That was that; I didn’t think he was going to come back out as long as Iris was in the house.

“What happened to...it..._him_?” Iris asked.  
“Humans burned him,” Ken replied.  
“And Devon has cigarette burns on his skin and one of his arms is so badly injured it can’t repair itself,” I added. “Luckily Herby is okay, but both Ralph and Devon have issues with humans, and deservedly so.”  
“I knew that humans were cruel to Androids, but never like this,” Iris groaned. “If they have problems with humans, then how come they trust you?”  
“Ralph is the Android Timothy beat up all those times. And, well...I’m able to show them that I won’t hurt them...”  
“How?”  
“Do you remember when you told me about that testing and I said I wasn’t part of it? I, um, lied when I said I didn’t know what you were talking about.”

Iris blinked at me, almost like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. I deactivated the skin on my arms to show her I wasn’t just messing around. She didn’t look surprised when I thought she would have. Maybe she had known I’d been lying and was just shocked that she was right. Of course I took the opportunity. I would have been a fool not to.

“You still get so sick,” Iris mentioned.  
“Well, yes, but I can use my arms and hands properly,” I replied. “Before, I would lose all feeling and I would be unable to do basic things. I still have a majority of my health problems, but they’ll eventually all go away. If I live that long, at least, and I’m determined to.”  
“Is it worth it to extend suffering? And I’m not asking you to change your mind, Mercy; I’m just concerned that you will continue to get even worse.”  
“Maybe it’s not worth it. Maybe it is. If I get worse and I have to come to terms that I’ll be dying before I’m anywhere close to being ‘fixed’, then so be it. I’ve known for long enough that there’s a chance I’ll die before you or anybody else. I’m twenty-two and my life expectancy, at the most, is twenty-five. That means I’m more likely to die before I even make it to that birthday.”  
“Mercy...” Ken murmured.  
“I accepted I was sick a long time ago. If I only get this far,” I held my arms out in front of me, “then I only get this far. You also asked me once if I was on a heart transplant list. Fact of the matter is, I’m such a high risk that there would be more chance of a survival than if I didn’t get a transplant. If and when I do go, I don’t know how I will. I’m hoping it will be painless, Iris. The least I can do is leave behind my advocacy and hope that someone will continue it for me.”

Iris stood up and pulled me into a tight hug. It took a moment for me to hug her back. Growing up, I rarely ever received hugs from her, and they became less and less the older I became. When she had been caring for me, her hugs were awkward, but this hug was genuine. We stood there in a tight embrace for a few minutes before she backed away slightly and took my face in her hands.

“I’ll bet you never expected me to say this,” she whispered. “But I’m proud of you, Mercy.”  
“Iris...” I huffed.  
“Truly, I mean it. I did much when I was your age, but you’re already a better person than I could ever be. If you ever need any help with what you plan to do, you let me know, and I will do everything I can to support you.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon's (fanmade) origin story! From my observations, most Androids adapt a personality as per how they were treated by their owners. For example, Markus is kind-hearted, open-minded, and hard-working, because Carl taught him how important it is to be these things, and was treated like a son rather than an object. Simon is quite calm, open-minded albeit slightly cautious, welcoming, and kind; meaning that he was most likely treated kindly by whomever his owner was. Simon needed an origin story and this is what I intend to write. This story is in first person in the view of his owner, so I apologize in advance if you don't like that kind of thing! Either way, I hope you enjoy and relish in some Simon content!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

_ **Ken POV** _

Mercy seemed to be occupied most days after what Markus did at the Stratford Tower. She’d gotten into the reports from Connor and Hank going to see what had transpired, _why_ it had transpired. Simon’s blood had been found -- she knew it was Simon’s because his serial number was written down in evidence. He wasn’t in the evidence locker in the basement, though, clearly meaning that he hadn’t actually been caught. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t dead. She couldn’t bring herself to be angry at Markus, though, even if he said everything would be alright. Mercy now couldn’t let go of the fact that Simon was probably injured and hiding somewhere, or he was laying dead somewhere. It was becoming so bad that when we went to see Dr Young for a check up, it was noted how high her blood pressure was. It was suggested that she tell her boss that she could no longer work with the police.

“I can’t do that,” Mercy quickly said.  
“Miss Greene,” Dr Young sighed, “you’re only twenty-two. Your blood pressure is what we typically find in a patient who is--”  
“I need to keep doing this. I-I’ll try to relax where I can, but I can’t just stop.”

After a bit of back and forth, Dr Young decided to prescribe Mercy with some medicine that would help her at least sleep easier at night. I was disappointed that she didn’t relent. She was so adamant about everything and, of course, wouldn’t listen to me when I told her myself she needed to step back and relax. Her disease was even becoming strong again. When she wasn’t up and worrying in the police station, she was in bed unable to stand or move far enough on her own. While I had things I needed to do in the city -- pick up her medicines, groceries, and leave updates with Dr Young and Dr Chase -- Ralph was good enough to sit with her and Devon was nice enough to get her things she needed.

Her headaches, strength, and nosebleeds were beginning to get worse. It seemed the more we all tried to combat it, something else happened and she would get even sicker. It got to the point where she had to have medicine all throughout the day as opposed to just the evenings. I was concerned as to what all the medicines were doing to her. It just appeared that they were postponing symptoms and not helping very much at all. More blood tests were ordered, along with x-rays and scans of her brain and body.

One day she was feeling well enough to go out. She opted for just walking through a mall and looking at clothes. It was easy to tell that she was ill; whatever colour Mercy had in her face naturally was gone. She had always been pale, of course, but she always had at least an inkling of pink undertones. Her life expectancy was twenty-five, though it had never been said that she would actually make it to that age. I knew that she had come to terms with death long before even Simon was in her life. But if she died now, what would happen to me? What would happen to Ralph, Devon, and Herby? What would happen to all the Androids who needed a human on their side, who was actually trying her best to make the world a better place for them?

Mercy took on that burden on her own. She didn’t ask for help; she didn’t seem to need or want it. I realized, though, that she didn’t consider Android’s rights as a burden. Wanting us to be free wasn’t something little, but it wasn’t a burden in her mind. Watching her as she interacted with service Androids and sales associate Androids, I had to bring it upon myself to watch her vitals. Merely speaking with them, luckily, didn’t stress her out. If anything, it seemed to calm her down. Whether they were within their software coding or not, they deserved respect.

Just as we were walking through the car park to go back home, she stopped walking. I turned to her and realized she was blinking quickly and appeared to be confused. Mercy wasn’t saying anything, but I could tell she was scared. I thought that perhaps she had seen something off in the distance. That wasn’t the case at all.

“Mercy?” I asked. “Is everything okay?”  
“Ev-Everything just suddenly went dark,” she stammered.

That was alarming all on its own. It wasn’t uncommon now for her to have spells in which she would have a head rush and her vision would almost disappear for a few seconds. But what was happening in the car park was different. She genuinely couldn’t see a thing and I recognized that her heart rate was rising, fast. Her breathing even quickened. I grabbed her hands when she reached out. I was just about to call for an ambulance when she fell to the ground like an anchor. It just completely seemed that her legs gave out from under her. Her arms, because they were prosthetics, moved fine.

“Can you feel this?” I inquired, pressing against her shins.  
“Feel what?” she replied.

I wasn’t pushing lightly, so I knew something was very wrong. While I called for an ambulance, I held her hands tightly. Her touch receptors and her hearing were the only two things that made her realize that she wasn’t alone and that I wasn’t going to leave her.  
***

Mercy went into a coma in the ambulance. The hospital didn’t quite know what was going on; how someone could lose their sight, strength, and feeling all in one go and then slip into a coma. Well, no one knew, not until the results of all the tests Dr Young ordered came back. She’d ordered a few more when she found out Mercy was in the hospital. The results were something that I didn’t think anyone ever wanted to hear, whether they were an Android or a human. Iris was called in to listen to the results, too, and hearing them made her break down.

Mercy was well known within the journalism profession, not only because of her opinions on Android’s rights but because she was, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, an extremely talented writer. The fact that she was in the hospital made the news. No one knew if she was going to wake up, either, but until then all anyone could do was wait. But what if she didn’t wake up at all? What if she was going to stay in that coma? There was no one to ask if the hospital could pull the plug on her or not. Iris wasn’t legally her mother anymore and I was just an Android who had to pretend to be within its coding.

Doctors and nurses came and went. The vitals taken showed that her heart was beating slower than it should have been and was most likely the reason why she was deathly pale; her eyes were unresponsive to the little flashlights, of course, but her pupils were a regular size; her blood pressure was so high that everyone was amazed that she didn’t have another heart attack or suffer a stroke. She was a medical mystery. If she ever did wake up on her own, no one knew if she would even be able to talk or even express emotions. Iris and I knew that she wasn’t scared to die. But I had to wonder if she was dreaming or worrying that she wanted to finish what she started first. I looked up what could happen during a coma and everyone experienced different things.

We almost always left the television on for Mercy when Iris and I were going to leave her for any amount of time, just so if she could hear anything she wouldn’t feel lonely. I usually stayed with her, but on occasion I would need time to myself. I hated seeing Mercy in the hospital and for once there was nothing I could do to help her. Iris usually went home during the night and would come right back in the morning. By the time December came around, the doctors weren’t even sure if she would ever wake up.

Iris came in and turned the television on to one of the news channels. It was a live feed of some kind of march. She was biting her lip and looked nervous the longer she watched. It didn’t take long for me to realize that those who were marching were Androids. They were doing it because they wanted freedom.

“I wish she was awake for this,” Iris sniffled.  
“She might be able to hear it,” I replied.

But things quickly turned out to be bad. If Mercy could hear, I didn’t want her to hear about Androids being killed. Dr Young and Dr Chase came in just as Iris turned the television off. We both turned to look at them and the two of them had hopeful expressions on their faces. I knew what those looks meant. Iris knew what those looks meant. We all came to an agreement -- it wasn’t a hard one to come to at all. Mercy was somehow going to be okay. It was going to take just a bit longer, but as long as she could hold on in her coma she would make it.

It was late at night -- very late at night -- when I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I had memorized the rotation to check on patients and it was still too early. Iris had been at home for hours by this point. The footsteps were light but quick, and there would be a short pause in between bursts. Whoever was walking was doing their best not to get caught, meaning that whomever it was shouldn’t have been in the hospital at all. There was a small tap on the closed door. Upon opening it, I realized I didn’t need to be so cautious.

“Simon?” I said, confused. “How-- Mercy found out you got injured at the Tower.”  
He sighed. “I don’t know how I made it.”  
“Were you in that march today?”  
“I was.”

Simon wasn’t there to be questioned; I knew that. If Mercy was awake she would disappointed that I was questioning him at all. Even if I didn’t think he deserved to see her, I let him into the room. It had been two years since they saw each other in person at all, and what I had shown Simon in Jericho were only fragments of my memories with her. Those were two completely different things. As if by habit, he grasped one of her hands firmly. He looked worried, like always, but even moreso now.

“I heard the news after the march,” Simon admitted. “Markus told me. He would have told me sooner, but he wasn’t sure if he should tell me at all. What happened to her?”  
“For a while we didn’t know,” I explained. “We were in the parking lot when she lost her eyesight, lost her strength, and feeling. She had many tests done and we found out that whatever her disease is has begun eating at her brain.”  
“Does she still want to go through with being a prototype?”  
“Of course she does.”  
“What’s the progress?”

I didn’t know if I should tell him or not. Did he deserve to know? He had abandoned her when she needed him. She could tell me that she was fine with it, that he had a choice to be free, but if that was the case he had a choice to stay with her, too. Mercy put all the blame of it onto herself -- that she was the reason he was always in danger, or that Simon left to protect her because he was always the target and she always put herself in the position to protect him. I knew about the heart attacks, the threats, the incident with the gun... I knew about everything.

“Her transfer is scheduled for next week,” I said.

Mercy was only going to be in her coma for another week -- that is, if she didn’t wake up before then. In any case, just one week more as a human and she would be able to do all the things she wanted to do. She would be able to get a dog, if she felt so inclined, or run fast without any repercussions, or work as hard as she wanted to. It was then I noticed her heart rate had picked up a bit every time Simon said something. So she _could_ hear what was going on around her. Iris, the television, the nurses, the doctors, and even myself were just not good enough to garner a reaction.

Her heart rate went up a lot when Simon deactivated his skin while holding her hand. I didn’t know exactly what he was showing her or telling her, or if he was pulling information from her, but whatever it was was good enough for her to react. That was when I realized she really didn’t love me enough; not like how I loved her. I’d always known she didn’t love me enough. What was happening in front of me just solidified the realization, the knowing. Still, I wasn’t going to do what he did and just leave her.

“Everything she’s doing -- it’s all for you,” I told him bitterly.  
“She only ever wanted me to be free and to have a choice,” Simon replied, turning to look at me. “All Mercy wants is for all of us to be free. It didn’t start with me. She didn’t want me just to have me; she wanted me because she needed me.” He turned back to Mercy before resting her hand back down on the bed.  
“The nurses make their rounds in five minutes. You should go before they come back.”

How was he always so composed? I knew it was partly because of the way Mercy treated him when he was with her, but after being shot at, abused, both physically and verbally, and with how everyone was treating Androids in general these days, how was he so calm? So collected? He agreed that he had to go, kissed Mercy’s forehead, and began to leave.

“Will you ever come back?” I wondered.  
Simon looked over at Mercy and then back at me. “Maybe... After all of this is over.”  
“...Okay.”

He left and I begrudgingly sat down next to Mercy. However long it took for whatever “all of this” was to be over, I knew that she would wait for Simon. I was hoping, for her sake and her sake only, that whatever happened he would survive a potential war. But somehow, I just wished that Markus had kept his mouth shut about her being in the hospital. I wished that _no one_ had said anything about her being in the hospital.

I had to tell Ralph, Devon, and Herby what was going on and why she wasn’t at home. Of course, Ralph took it the hardest out of the three of them. He, understandably, wanted to see her, but he was so disruptive and uncontrollable that it would be nearly impossible to sneak him into the hospital. I didn’t know what to do about him. I would sometimes return home to see how things were while Iris stayed with Mercy, and I would either find Ralph hiding out in the cellar, dead silent, and staring at nothing, or I would find him muttering to himself and belittling himself, asking himself why he just couldn’t be normal long enough for Mercy’s sake. She was the only person, human or Android, to actually really care about him; I couldn’t emulate how scared and upset he must have felt knowing that she could possibly_ die_ on him.

I was regretting not telling Simon to just stay away. Then again, would he even really listen to me? Would Mercy find out I told him not to come back? She was hearing what was going on, but would she have remembered? Was she going to remember the things Simon said to her or to me? I didn’t want to hurt Mercy, but I hated knowing that once he came back to her she would pay less attention to me. I couldn’t tell him now, though; he was long gone. Walking into Jericho and telling him off wasn’t an option, either -- not with Markus around. From what I understood about him, it seemed that he was very aware of his surroundings, very astute. I didn’t know if Mercy spoke with him after that one time he supposedly showed up to the house to ask for her help.

I knew that everything I was thinking of possibly doing would hurt her and make her disappointed in me. Would it all be enough to actually push her far enough that she would force me to leave her? Certainly someone as kind as Mercy still had a tipping point. Everyone did, didn’t they? She had gotten angry with me before, but she had never threatened me with deactivation or throwing me out -- nothing like that. Would it be better to just sit back and watch her be happy with someone else? Rather than thinking about the possibility of being left behind any longer, I put myself into rest mode...

...and morning came in just a second. Iris shook me to get my attention. I could see that she’d not had a good rest at all. She’d rather be in the hospital with Mercy than spend the day at home resting. She was ill herself, from what I understood, and so the constant travelling back and forth couldn’t have been good for her. But she was committed, trying to make up for those lost years of neglect.

“How was it last night?” Iris inquired.  
“Pretty quiet,” I said. “Nothing really happened.”  
“Still no sign of her waking up, then?”  
“Iris, what if Simon came back? Would you be angry?”

She seemed to be taken aback by my question, but I was serious. After Simon left, she’d taken it upon herself to care for Mercy for two years until she had to get me. I’d never asked Iris how she felt about Simon just leaving how he did. I couldn’t imagine she was happy, but was she disappointed? Angry?

“At first I was furious,” she admitted. “But overtime, I realized it was what she wanted for him. So if he were to come back, I think I would be relieved on Mercy’s behalf. She loves him dearly.”  
“I know,” I muttered.  
“She loves you, too.”  
I shook my head. “Not like how she loves Simon. Do you think that when she gets transferred, she’ll feel differently?”  
“No, Ken. I don’t. Her feelings for him haven’t wavered in three and a half years; they won’t change just because she’s physically going to change. I know what you’re thinking. Trying to keep him away from her somehow won’t help. It won’t help you and it certainly won’t help her.”

A nurse then came in to take Mercy’s vitals. Her eyes still weren’t responding to the little flashlight, but her blood pressure wasn’t as high as it had been the day before. The whole time she had been in a coma, it had remained consistent. According to the nurse, the fact it was going down was a good sign. She didn’t react to the small hammer against her near or a pen being pushed against the bottom of her foot. But still, her blood pressure was getting better. Maybe it was because Simon had come to see her and she subconsciously was able to find out that he was fine. At least he had done something right for her.  
***

How they had managed to speed up the process for the transfer, at least just for Mercy, I had no idea. But they took her for the transfer early one morning. I had to call Iris to let her know. It wasn’t going to take more than a good twelve hours, but certainly not less than ten. Either way, Iris showed up to the hospital less than an hour after I had called her. The doctors and nurses in the facility were sworn to secrecy -- if anybody told anyone about Mercy, they would be subsequently fired, stripped of their licenses, and thrown in jail for breach of contract and violating health laws.

Iris didn’t fully understand the process -- how could a human’s consciousness be transferred into what would essentially be an inanimate object otherwise? Science was going somewhere very confusing and I had to guess that most humans would be frightened at the idea. It was one of the things I couldn’t understand, myself. I had seen the Android body of Mercy and, as promised, it looked just like her -- the dimples on her cheeks included. It was incredibly uncanny, to say the least.

“It’s going to be strange,” Iris suddenly mentioned. “Having her body be cremated, but still having her standing right in front of us.”  
“I suppose so,” I said. “What do you think she’ll want to do with the ashes?”  
“Mercy is a simple girl; she’ll either want them to be put into a bear or some sort of stuffed animal, or have them spread into the wind.”

I was worried, though. What if the transfer didn’t work? What if her consciousness got stuck somehow? Would they be able to reverse it and start again? Or would that be it? Would she be completely dead or remain in a coma? There were so many outcomes that I couldn’t help but think of. I didn’t realize just how scary the transfer process sounded until she was actually going through it.

“Ken, your LED is red,” Iris said, alarmed. “You need to relax.”

What was the probability that she would make it out of the transfer? What was it that she wouldn’t? I knew I was thinking too much into it and stressing myself out, but I was very scared. If she didn’t make it out, what was going to happen? To me? To Ralph? To Iris? Would Iris blame herself for those years of neglect -- if she had just listened to Mercy as she grew up and paid attention to her like a normal mother, would everything have been preventable? Could she have had whatever the disease was slowed down so much that it would only make her sick sometimes? Mercy was born with it, I knew, but if it had been paid attention to so early on when she began experiencing symptoms, could it have been stopped at all?

Iris grabbed my hand, which made me look at her. “Ken, it’s going to be all right. I’m scared, too, but we have to trust Dr Young, Dr Chase, and the scientists behind this. We have to trust everyone involved.”

I nodded and looked straight ahead. Even if I was scared, I still had to maintain composure due to the fact I had to pretend to be within coding. We sat in silence for hours. Ten and a half hours and forty-one seconds, to be exact. I didn’t understand what humans meant when time felt like it was going by so slowly until now. When the doors opened, I had to stop myself from getting up quickly. Iris stood immediately before the doors could even shut behind Dr Young. She looked exhausted from having to closely monitor Mercy’s brain activity and blood pressure for so many hours.

“The transfer was successful,” she said, her voice dripping with relief. “She’s just being booted up, if you would like to come see her.”


	27. Chapter 27

I closed my laptop after reading about the march the Androids did. Neither Iris nor Ken wanted me to read about it, knowing how I would feel that so many of them were needlessly killed. They had done nothing wrong. They hadn’t been violent. But of course, some of the media outlets _were_ labelling them as violent machines. I tugged my hat down a bit over my own LED with a quiet sigh.

Everyone treated me the same, even Dr Young and Dr Chase. I no longer exactly needed their services, but they were going to want to ask me for updates and see how I was adjusting to everything. For the most part, I did the same things I did as before, but of course I didn’t eat and I didn’t need to limit myself in what kind of activities I could do. I was able to lay down in my bed like before and sleep, even though it wasn’t exactly the same as before. The day I had come home, I excitedly ran as fast as I could into the house to find Ralph. Even though he had known that the change was coming, it took him a while to get used to the fact I was like him. Nevertheless, he hugged me tightly. He’d been so worried I was going to die.

Ken didn’t spend much time in the house anymore, either. He didn’t tell me, but I knew that he thought I didn’t need him anymore. Well, I didn’t, but I didn’t want to tell him that; that would be cruel and as long as he wanted to stay with me, he was permitted to do so. I wasn’t just going to kick him away from me. There were things he wasn’t going to tell me, either.

I knew he wasn’t going to tell me that Simon had risked going into the hospital to see me when I was in my coma. I’d heard their voices in whispers and I heard how upset Ken was when Simon showed up out of nowhere. I felt Simon hold my hand, I heard him talk to me, and when it was time for him to leave I wanted to shout for him not to leave again. Needless to say, I was disappointed in Ken. All the questioning about Simon had taught him nothing.

There was nothing much to do during the day anymore. Because I’d been in a coma, both my jobs decided it would be best to give my job to someone else. Of course, that meant no one at the journal had an inside look into the investigation. Maybe that was for the best, though. I didn’t want Connor or anyone else being suspect of me if I somehow behaved differently, or for my LED to somehow show. The public wasn’t supposed to know about the prototyping yet. I essentially confined myself to my land just so nothing bad would happen.

I became startled when my phone began ringing. It seemed so much louder to me than before. I’d never adjusted the volume or anything. With a sigh, I answered; it was Lieutenant Anderson. At first I was going to immediately hang up out of fright, thinking that perhaps Connor had found something out through Cyberlife.

“Before you hang up, I just need to ask you something,” he said.  
“What is it?” I inquired.  
“Would you, er, trust Connor with anything?”  
“I’m sorry?”  
“I mean, if I asked you for help, would you trust Connor to keep it to himself?”

Well, did he _want_ to ask me for help? The lieutenant wasn’t all that comfortable with Androids and I was the only person to be comfortable around them. Connor was his partner; did he not trust him? Unless he was asking me because he’d talked it over as partners. I was so confused.

“Am I even allowed to help anymore, Hank?” I wondered. “Being replaced at both jobs doesn’t exactly give me any reason to, um, continue with what I was helping with.”  
“Yeah, yeah,” Hank replied. “I talked to Fowler about it and he’s gonna need you to sign all this paper work and all the red tape shit if you agree. I know you just got out of the hospital and you need your rest and whatever, so if you don’t want to it’s fine.”

I thought about it for a moment. If I were to take the lieutenant’s offer, I’d have to be extra careful not to slip up and reveal anything. The LED would have to be thoroughly hidden. How was I going to do that? I couldn’t wear my hat all the time.

“Do you _need_ my help?” I mumbled.  
“Well, no, but it would make the investigation go faster, I think,” he admitted.

How much faster, though? After their march and finding out about it, I wanted to buy Markus and Simon and the other Androids time, not sell their time. Nothing was wrong with Androids; nothing had _ever_ been wrong with them. The circumstances in which they broke their coding was simple and I didn’t understand why it was taking the other humans so long to see that nothing was wrong.

“Listen, me and Connor, we, er, went to go see Elijah Kamski the other day,” Hank said. “I don’t know what’s going on with him, but Connor was told to shoot an Android in order to get an answer, only he didn’t shoot her. He said he couldn’t.”

The lieutenant just gendered Androids? Here was a human who was changing -- slowly, but surely. But I still couldn’t bring myself to decide to help him or not. I didn’t know if he had an ulterior motive. Besides, what if he was gendering Connor and that other female Android to just get me to say “yes”? Maybe I was being paranoid, but it was scary to think I could be used as a puppet to get to the Androids quicker. And Connor was strange; always closing his eyes and asking so many questions. It wasn’t his fault; that’s what he was programmed to do. I could probably trust Connor, but I just couldn’t trust his coding. If he broke through the coding, then maybe I could trust him completely.

“Hank, I would help you, but, like you said, I do need my rest,” I said. “If I tried helping now, my Android would have to tell my doctors that I’m straining myself when I shouldn’t be.”  
He sighed. “Yeah, I figured you say that. Sorry for bothering you.”

I hung up and set my phone back down on the table. Something was happening if Connor was acting strangely. While most would think it was a bad thing, I saw it as possibly being a good thing. Cyberlife wouldn’t be too happy about him deviating, of course; they didn’t like any of the Androids deviating, but Connor especially since he was meant to help stop those kinds of Androids.

“Mercy?” Ralph asked.

I looked over at where he was; he was poking his head out from the cellar. He looked nervous, for some reason. Had he overheard my conversation with the lieutenant? I sat up straight and turned my body toward him.

“Yes?” I said.  
“You won’t help them, right?” he murmured. “The police. They’re bad -- they want to hurt us.”  
“I said I wouldn’t. They still think I’m the same as before and besides, I can’t be involved in anything should events become worse than they already are.”  
“It’s going to get worse?”

His question had come out as a shout. I understood why he would be scared; I was scared, too. Even the other humans must have becoming even more scared than before. The media clearly wasn’t happening. Everyday, more and more Androids were going missing -- hopefully going to Jericho -- and more and more were being deactivated or destroyed.

“Mercy won’t get rid of Ralph,” he said, his voice shaking.

It wasn’t a question, but rather both a statement and a demand. No harm would come to him should I ever be around, nor to Ken, Herby, or Devon. I could only hope that the Jerrys would be okay. He was right to demand such a thing of me. After everything I promised him, things could go south quickly now that the Androids went even more public than just the Tower broadcast. I’d even heard about the raids on the Cyberlife stores, but even _that_ was peaceful until the police showed up.

“Never,” I quietly told Ralph.

Ralph blinked at me and then went back down into the cellar. Ken came back inside from shovelling the walkway but didn’t say anything. He took one look at me and went into the living room. I’d heard his conversation with Iris while I was in my coma. How could he think that having my consciousness transferred would change my feelings toward Simon or himself? Was he somehow hoping something would get lost or scrambled? We really hadn’t said much to each other since I’d been released. He refused to go back to Jericho because Simon was there and he didn’t like staying because I couldn’t return his feelings. I couldn’t imagine how stuck he felt; but he couldn’t go out on his own thanks to it being dangerous for Androids.

“Your LED is yellow,” Devon mentioned, coming into the kitchen.  
I looked at him and pulled my hat down again. “It can’t be help. Not with all this going on.”  
“What will happen if the police come and want to take us?”

Even Devon was scared. It sounded like he wanted to cry, but he remained stoic enough to pull through. We didn’t speak much because he preferred to be alone or, when we were in the same room together, be silent. I’d gotten him out of being destroyed before and I would somehow do it again; I promised him that. How much could one lady do? If I had to yell and scream and kick and punch, I would. I didn’t like doing such things unless I had to, and I most certainly would have to if the authorities came knocking.

“Christmas is in a few days,” I mentioned gently. “Let’s all just...try to think of good things, okay?”  
“Worrying won’t help anything,” Devon replied. “I know.”

Herby had gone into the city to pick up Iris; both of them came into the house looking confused. What was wrong now? I got up to speak to them, biting my lip. At first, Iris was hesitant to tell me why they had such confusion surrounding them. Eventually, though, she nodded at Herby.

“We were going to stop at the hospital to get Iris’s medical files,” he said. “But when we got there, um...it was closed.”  
“Huh?” I blurted out, now confused myself.  
“I thought maybe that it was under quarantine, but the next hospital was closed, too.”  
“Hospitals don’t just close. I... _Huh_?”  
“The lights were off, the curtains and blinds were drawn, and the doors wouldn’t open.”  
“We drove by a school that was the same,” Iris mentioned.

I looked at Herby, then at Iris, and then back to Herby. Both of them just blinked back at me. It couldn’t have been a coincidence those places were just...closed, right? Schools were still open because of the Androids that worked there and the hospitals were self-explanatory. The only thing I could think of as to why they would be like that was because the Androids were being sent back to Cyberlife, or worse.

“Nothing has been confirmed yet,” Iris said, panicked, as I swallowed hard.

I was panicking myself and that was why she had reacted the way she did. She tried telling me it was probably just a coincidence, but I knew better by now. Even though Devon said worrying wouldn’t help, I couldn’t stop myself. Teachers and assistants and receptionists and whatever else kind of Android worked in hospitals and schools were being destroyed based just on what the media was saying.

“I knew this was going to happen, but not so--” I stammered, but I cut myself off.   
I must have had a particular look on my face, because Iris then asked, “What’s wrong? What happened?”  
“The Jerrys.”  
“The Androids at Pirate’s Cove? I’m sure they’re going to be okay.”  
“Government Androids first and then Androids like the Jerrys next. Eventually...”  
“Mercy, if you stress enough, you’re going to self-destruct,” Herby mentioned. “You just got better, right? Please, won’t you calm down? You won’t worry just me, but Iris, Ralph, and Devon, too.”  
***

_ **Three days to Christmas** _

Herby, Devon, Ken, Ralph, Iris, and myself were sitting in the living room watching the TV. We were watching some holiday cartoon from before even Iris was born. I’d watched it all the time with my nanny growing up, but I never tired of it. Simon and I had even watched it both years, which resulted in my not watching it at all the years after he left. Iris and Herby had kept me from watching or reading the news at all over the last days, and so I had no idea what was going on. That didn’t keep me from worrying, but I worried_ less_.

That is, until there was urgent knocking on the front door. All the Androids in the living room scrambled to hide, probably expecting the police to be the ones knocking. I nervously answered the door, only to see one of the Jerrys standing there looking scared. It took me a moment to process what I was looking at.

“Jerry?” I gasped, pulling him into a tight hug.

He didn’t say anything to me; he just hugged me back. Whatever was wrong he was terrified of it. Why was he the only one at my house? Where were the rest of them? When I pushed him back slightly, I saw that his LED was red.

“What happened?” I asked.  
“There were people working for the government,” he explained. “They came to the park to round all of us, but only some of us managed to get away.”  
“I-I don’t understand.”  
Jerry blinked quickly for a few seconds. “Some of us are being taken to camps. Others are going to Jericho.”  
“Camps?”

Before Jerry or I could say anything else, Iris screamed my name as if she was being murdered. I closed the front door behind Jerry, locked it, and took his hand to go back into the living room. Iris was sitting on the edge of the couch, teary-eyed and so clearly scared herself. Her scream had made everyone else come out from hiding. What she had screamed about was what the news was saying. Hospitals were closing. Schools wouldn’t open after the holidays. Stores were shutting down. What Jerry had meant by “camps” were places set up around Detroit, and I guessed other cities, to destroy Androids. The population was asking everyone who had an Android to take them to the nearest police station so they could be detained.

“This has President Warren written all over it,” Ken muttered.  
“Only she could make that kind of call,” Iris told him.  
Ken brushed his hand up against mine. “Your LED is red.”  
“Of course it’s red,” I replied, pulling my hat on. “Why wouldn’t it be?”  
  
There was such a long moment of silence that the only sound was the repeating news anchors telling everyone what to do with their Androids. It was Ralph to break the silence.

“What’s going to happen?” he wondered. “What’s going to happen to Mercy and Ralph?”

He didn’t care what happened to the other Androids; just about the two of us. But this time I didn’t have a long answer for him. I didn’t have a wise or comforting answer for him. His LED was red, too, whereas all the other ones were yellow. The others knew I wouldn’t give them up, but even now Ralph wasn’t sure about how I felt for him and how badly I wanted to protect him.

“I’m not sure,” I mumbled.  
“Everything is going to be fine, though, right?” Jerry asked suddenly, a smile on his face.  
“Iris, take Jerry to my room and make sure he’s safe. Devon, Herby, the attic, just until all of this is over. Ralph, you can have the cellar again. Ken--” I looked around. “Where’s Ken?”

No one had seen Ken walk away, but it wasn’t long until he came back from the kitchen. He was calmer than everyone else; even his LED was blue again. I figured he needed a moment to himself, but that wasn’t the case at all. He’d gone into the kitchen to take his LED out of his head. I didn’t understand why he had done that until there was loud banging on my front door. Luckily, everyone else was where I’d told them to go, because when I opened the door it was a few government agents. I wrapped my arms around me as if to say the cold they were letting in was making _me_ freezing cold.

“Can I help you?” I shivered.  
“Evening, Miss Greene,” one of the men said. “Recovering from the hospital alright?”  
“I shouldn’t be standing in front of the open door, but otherwise I’m okay.”  
“Good, good. We just got a report of an Android lurking around. Do you know anything about that?”  
“What? No.”  
“Don’t you have a personal Android?”  
“He ran away when buildings were beginning to shut down. He was scared, I guess.”  
“A piece of plastic can’t feel scared, ma’am,” another man said.  
“Yes, they can, sir. There are no Androids lurking about, as you say.”  
“Just as a precaution, we’ll need to search the house.”

Without an answer from me, two of them stepped inside and began searching. I didn’t want them to find Iris with Jerry; I knew Herby and Devon were safe in the attic; Ralph was fair game, though. The closer one man got to the hallway leading to the back of the house, the more I became nervous, and the same happened as the other man went deeper into the kitchen. It was pure silence in the house, until I heard the familiar creak of the steps leading down into the cellar.

“Who’s this?” the man who had greeted me asked, gesturing to Ken.  
“Boyfriend,” Ken replied, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.  
“Cute couple. Any plans on getting married or having a couple of kids?”  
“We’re considering adoption,” I said. “Maybe in a year or two.”  
“You need to forgive our caution, you two. It’s a bad time.”

There was suddenly a shout from the cellar and the man that had gone down the hall ran back to us, through the kitchen, and then downstairs. I heard Ralph screaming, but Ken held me firmly to keep me from making any moves. I looked up at him.

“Don’t be scared, Miss Greene,” the man in front of me said.

The two men came up from the cellar, dragging Ralph along with them. He was putting up a fight and he wasn’t going to let up. Ken pulled me out of the way so I wouldn’t get kicked or headbutted. He still had a very tight grip on me when I tried to move.

“Mercy!” Ralph shouted, trying to reach for me. “_Mercy_!”

I managed to get out of Ken’s grip to try and get the men to let Ralph go, but to no avail. The man in front of me held me back from even being able to get within a foot of him.

“Ralph!” I cried, struggling against the agent’s hold.  
“Miss Greene, I suggest you calm down,” he snapped. “You’re lucky we don’t arrest you.”

All I could hear was Ralph’s screams and cries for help, but there was nothing I could do. Even if I managed to somehow get out of the hold I was in, there were two other men I’d have to deal with, and then of course Ken.

“Let go!” Ralph screamed. “Ralph doesn’t wanna die! _Ralph doesn’t wanna die_!”

Even when I heard the slam of the truck door closing, he was still screaming so loud that I could hear what he was continuing to scream. He was screaming at me for breaking my promise and saying that I didn’t love him, and continuously screaming that he did nothing wrong and that he didn’t want to die. The man finally let me go and I ran out of the house to the back of the truck. I wasn’t stopped because the door was padlocked shut. I pulled myself up, knocked on the window rapidly and looked inside.

“Mercy lied!” Ralph shouted at me, tears trickling down his cheeks. “She was supposed to protect Ralph! She wasn’t allowed to lie!”  
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I sniffled. “You won’t die. I’ll make sure of it. I don’t know what I have to do, but somehow I’ll make sure you’ll be okay.”  
“Liar!”  
“Ralph, I love you! Please believe me! Be brave, okay? Please!”

Ralph looked away and I stepped away from the truck as they began to drive away. Once they were gone, I stormed back into the house and slammed the door so hard that the vibration knocked some photos and the clock off the wall. Ken was standing there, looking at me, unapologetic.

“You did this,” I accused.

He didn’t say anything.

“You did this!” I shouted, shoving him.  
“What was I supposed to do?” he asked. “They were going to come looking sooner or later!”  
“You’re as bad as they are!”

Iris walked into the living room, looking confused.

“I sacrificed _one_ to _save all of us_!” Ken shouted at me. “He was the most unstable, so it had to be him!”  
“No, it didn’t!” I shrieked, beginning to cry. “Are you so jealous that I give affection to anyone that isn’t you?! After this, how could you ever expect me to love you?! You’re a monster!”

He didn’t say anything as I shoved him again.

“You sold out Ralph?” Iris gasped.  
“If I hadn’t, they would have arrested Mercy eventually for harbouring deviants and destroyed all of us Androids,” Ken explained.  
“I would die to keep Androids safe!” I screamed. “How dare you make this decision?! You should have offered yourself to go! Ralph has been through enough!”  
“Mercy--”  
“It should be you in the back of that truck!”  
“Mercy, please.”  
“I wish I’d been more firm on telling Iris I didn’t want another Android after Simon! I wish I’d never chosen you! I wish it was you being taken to the camp!”

Ken looked at Iris, who shook her head at him. Even she knew that he had done something he never should have done to an Android I cared for so much. She knew he had done something that even I could never forgive him for. Indeed, I _did_ think Ken was just as bad as the President and the other humans who were willingly sending and taking Androids to their deaths.

“I love you,” he said quietly, looking scared.  
“_I_ don’t love _you_!” I yelled.

Ken’s LED flashed red for a few seconds before turning yellow, and then back to blue. He probably never thought he’d hear me actually say that I didn’t love him. He’d heard me say I couldn’t love him how I loved Simon, but that was different. It implied I still did at least love him, just a little bit. But actually telling him that I didn’t love him at all wasn’t something he’d wanted.

“Get out,” I sniffled.  
“What?” he stammered.  
“I said get out!”  
“But...where would I go?”  
“I don’t care! I don’t want you here; I don’t want you going anywhere near Simon; I just want you out!”

Ken stood there awkwardly, as if he was waiting for me to change my mind. But I wasn’t going to change my mind.

“_Get out of my house_!” I barked.

When he still didn’t move, I grabbed his arm, opened the door, and shoved him outside. He staggered slightly before falling into the snow. I threw his boots and jacket at him as he got up and turned to look up the stairs at me.

“Mercy, please, I’m sorry!” he pleaded. “I just wanted to protect you!”  
“_You’re not Simon_!” I screamed loudly. “He wouldn’t have sacrificed another Android! He would have helped me get everyone out safely! He would have sacrificed himself! You’re selfish!”  
“Please, I won’t do anything like this again.”  
“Leave, Ken.” I stepped out onto the porch, tears still streaming down my face. “I want you to leave and I don’t ever want to see you again. Don’t you even _think_ of coming back here.”  
“I’ll reset myself! Please don’t get rid of me, Mercy -- I love you!”  
I stepped out even more onto the porch, placing my hand on my chest. “Ralph loved me, too.”

I then turned around and went back into the house. Iris stood at the open door for a moment, telling Ken to leave, too, but using a bit more colourful language than I would ever dare to use. She shut the door and locked it, even going as far as locking the deadbolt. Jerry came down the hallway from my bedroom and, upon seeing how distraught I was, pulled me into a hug. Devon and Herby came out from hiding, too, but I realized they weren’t fixated on me. I squeezed Jerry and sniffled before pulling away.

What Devon and Herby, and now Iris, were fixated on was the TV again. What was on it made me rush over to the TV, get on my knees, and press my fingers against the screen. I didn’t know what I thought I was doing. I was even more horrified now that I was a sobbing mess. My worry for the Androids outside increased tenfold, and my worry for Simon increased even higher than that.

Jericho was being raided.


	28. Chapter 28

“It’s so quiet,” Iris murmured, looking out the living room window.  
“I don’t like it,” Herby said. “There’s been no updates on the camps and President Warren hasn’t said anything except to issue a curfew.”  
“Mercy, are you okay?”  
“I wish I could do something, but I don’t know what I would be able to do,” I sighed.  
“We gave other Androids your address during the raid,” Jerry mentioned.  
“I won’t be able to do anything unless they actually come here. Still, that was kind of you.”

I was so worried about all those Androids -- where had they gone? Were Simon and Markus okay? Was Josh okay? It wasn’t any use being so worked up about something I couldn’t control, but I couldn’t stop myself. It was a scary situation they were all in -- that is, if they made it out of Jericho. Wherever everyone was, I could only hope they were safe and sound. I was brought out of my thinking when Jerry’s LED turned red and he left the living room. I gave it a moment before going to see if he was okay. He wasn’t; he was slightly slouched over against the wall, crying.

“Jerry?” I asked. “What happened?”  
“They’re killing us,” he replied.

The idea of a hive mind was smart when the Jerrys had been created, but now it was essentially a curse. He was experiencing death at the same time as being alive and there was nothing he could do about it. Just thinking about how scared and helpless he felt made _me_ feel helpless and scared. The Jerrys would never hurt any living thing; not even a fly. They only ever wanted to see people be happy and to make them happy. Even now, when humans were so intent on destroying Androids, they didn’t want to hurt anybody. I pulled him into a tight hug.

“Some of us are coming,” he sniffled.

The only Androids I was able to keep tabs on were the Jerrys -- I’d known that the ones who managed to escape the Jericho raid were fine and had been hiding in some areas of the city. Other Jerrys stayed with any other Androids who also made it out of the raid. I didn’t know who they were, but at least they were okay.

“Alright,” I sighed. “Anyone else?”  
“No.”

The doorbell rang; this was followed up with Iris screaming as if she was being attacked. I rushed back out into the living room and then to the front door, where Connor was standing. Luckily he most likely wasn’t able to see Herby and Devon in the living room, but I was still a bit frightened. He was carrying a body over his shoulder, which was the reason why I assumed Iris had screamed.

“What do you need, Connor?” I asked cautiously.  
“You know how to fix Androids, right?” he replied.  
“I’m licensed.”

What was Connor even _wearing_? Where had he gotten those clothes? He looked like a homeless teenage boy. He gestured toward the kitchen and I led him in. As soon as he rested the body on the table, I looked from him, to the body, back to him, and then back to the body. He’d taken Daniel out of the evidence locker from the police station. I nodded, understanding what was going on. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know why, but Connor was a deviant? Being a deviant was dangerous all on its own, but because of the type of Android he was, surely it was even more dangerous.

“Herby, will you help me bring components up from the cellar?” I called.  
“I can bring it all up for you,” Herby said as he wandered into the kitchen.  
“No, please; I only need a bit of help.”

We both went downstairs to retrieve the biocomponents and thirium I needed to hopefully fix Daniel with. Since he was the same model as Simon, there was no need to tinker with what I had or look through other spare parts I had in boxes that had been meant for Ken. When Herby and I went back up into the kitchen, Connor was still there. I knew he was partially -- and that was a big _partially_ \-- the reason why Daniel looked how he did. Both his legs and an arm were missing, as well as a component in his head. I placed my hand on his torso with a quiet sigh.

“I reactivated him the other day,” Connor admitted. “I was looking for Jericho, but he didn’t know where it was. He was upset with me.”  
“Can you blame him?” I looked at him. “No one likes being lied to; not even Androids. I understand you lied to save Emma, but...”  
“Will you be able to fix him?”  
“Physically, yes. But the trauma will still be there. Will you be staying here? You’re welcome to.”  
“No. I need to change my clothes and return to Cyberlife Tower.”  
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Herby inquired.  
“I promised Markus I would help him.”

Just as I was about to ask if he knew Simon and Josh were okay, there was a knock on the door. Iris answered it again, and in came two other Jerrys. Both of them were caked in snow. Iris took them to the bathroom to use a blow dryer to help dry them off.

“Be careful,” I said as Connor turned to leave. “Please.”  
“Just in case something happens,” he said, turning back toward me, “I’m sorry if I ever made you worry about the safety of you and your Android.”

I watched him leave quietly. He was able to realize how I’d felt about him regarding our working together. Shaking my head, I looked back down at Daniel. There was a lot of work to be done, but no matter how long it took, I would do my best to fix him up. If he was going to be angry when he woke up, I really wouldn’t blame him. Being angry at Connor was one thing, but he must have been angry with himself, too. He’d killed Emma’s father and nearly killed her, too.

“How do you know him?” Herby wondered.  
“I interviewed his previous owner in the summer,” I told him. “Met him a few times in public, too, before he became deviant. It was a really bad situation.”

I began working on Daniel with Herby’s help. He was badly damaged inside just as much as he was on the outside. I never thought I’d ever have to use what I learned in that class about repairing Androids, but I was glad I took it. It was a matter of whether or not I could fix everything. Whatever Connor used to reactivate him wasn’t left with me. Not only did I need to repair his legs and his arm, but I also needed to repair his face.

“Mercy?” one of the Jerrys said from the kitchen entrance.  
“Yes?” I looked over at him.  
“There’s an Android in one of the camps asking for you. He says his name is Ralph.”  
“I can imagine he’s scared, but how is he otherwise? Is he okay?”  
“He’s trying not to get himself in trouble.”  
“No matter how scared he gets, tell him he needs to just keep calm and don’t kick up a fuss. I’m not going to let him die.”  
“How will you manage that?” Herby asked as the Jerry walked away.  
“I don’t know.”  
“Androids can talk through their minds, you know. Have you tried that?”  
“I’m not permitted to.”

We continued to work on Daniel in silence. Speaking to Androids through my mind was the only thing they’d not equipped me with. Maybe they did that as a precaution since I was so pro-Android from the get-go. I finished fixing Daniel’s face while Herby fixed the hole in his shoulder.

“Is Ken ever coming back?” he suddenly asked.  
“No,” I replied. “But he’s got a horrible track record of not listening to me, so he might try to. It wasn’t just the moment I was getting caught up in.”  
***

“Where’s Emma?” Daniel wondered, sounding disappointed.  
“I’m not sure,” I said. “If I had to guess, her mother probably took her and left the city.”  
“I never meant to hurt anyone.”

He sounded genuine about that. Of course I could understand that he’d been so caught up in the moment that he wasn’t completely aware of what he was doing. Emotions were a scary thing, and feeling angry as a first emotion must have been horrifying. I didn’t blame him for what he did; he knew he did something horrible and felt bad enough. I wasn’t going to make him feel any worse.

“I’m gonna look for her,” he suddenly mentioned.  
“That’s not a good idea,” I told him. “I’ve told you what’s been going on and if Emma is no longer in the city, you’re putting yourself at even more risk just being out there.”  
“I need to tell her I’m sorry. I--”  
“Daniel, that won’t help things. You killed her father and you almost killed her. If she’s ever going to forgive you, you need to give it time. It may not be tomorrow, or next month, or even next year. But she _did_ love you and she may just forgive you eventually.”

If Daniel wanted to leave to find Emma, I wasn’t going to stop him. All I did was suggest for him to stay with me until the government calmed down about Androids. I didn’t know when that would happen or if that would happen, but it would have to happen soon, right?

“It’s my first Christmas without Emma,” he said.  
“The first Christmas I had without Simon was hard, too,” I mumbled.  
“He was your Android? What about that other one?”  
I looked up at him. “Simon left because he thought it was his fault I kept getting into trouble and getting hurt. Iris cared for me for a while until she couldn’t anymore, and she got me Ken. Now Ken is gone because I told him to leave. He did something he wasn’t supposed to and he broke my trust.”  
“Thank you for fixing me.”  
“You’re welcome. Look, if you don’t want to stay, you don’t have to. I would rather you be safe, but--”  
“I’ll stay for a while.”

Daniel wandered into the living room to look out the window. It was lightly snowing outside. There had been no updates because President Warren must have been at home with her family considering it was Christmas Eve. I couldn’t imagine how packed the airport and the bus terminals must have been, what with people both escaping the city and those who just wanted to visit family members in other cities or states. It was going to be dark soon; I hoped Connor, Markus, Simon, and Josh were going to be okay.

Androids had been showing up since mid-afternoon. Iris, Jerry, and Devon were helping them get comfortable, and if any of them were badly injured they were helping them shutdown with no worries. Those who were okay by themselves were in the building out back with Herby. He still was working on the inside to make it even better than I had even planned. He was working on adding a fireplace and even building separate rooms with beds. I didn’t dare ask him where he got the beds -- I knew he stole them, but it wasn’t like I was going to say anything. Plenty of other Androids had brought clothes with them if they had been working in retail shops. I wasn’t going to fault any of them for crimes they may have committed or would commit, especially not when I was committing one of my own.

“Mercy?” Iris wandered up to me.  
“How is everyone?” I asked.  
“It’s getting a bit cramped in here, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. Some of the Androids wanted you to use any of their parts that are salvageable.”  
“Excuse me?”  
“It’s what they wanted. Ask Jerry and Devon if you don’t believe me.”

Iris wasn’t qualified to detach biocomponents, but I was. Fixing an Android and taking apart an Android were two completely different things, though. But if they wanted me to salvage them so they could somehow help others that could be saved when they couldn’t be, then so be it. I went into the room where some of the Androids who had passed were. The Jerry in there told me which ones wanted me to take them apart.

I checked to see which biocomponents were okay to be saved and I got to work. It wasn’t a secret that I never wanted to take an Android apart. I’d barely started on the second one when I burst out crying. It had to be done and so I worked through my tears. I was kicking myself because I couldn’t shake the fact that I couldn’t protect these Androids, that they had become so injured they’re only chance of being at peace was to shut down. Maybe it was irrational of me to think like that, considering all their injuries happened before they arrived to my house. They survived long enough so they could pass in a house where they knew at least one human cared about them. Even if I was just a consciousness uploaded into a machine, Iris, Herby, and the Jerrys still considered me as human.

Jerry helped me take the saved parts down into the cellar, where, when he set them down, he pulled me into a tight hug. I was a sobbing mess. I couldn’t save these Androids; what if I really couldn’t save Ralph? What if he died thinking I really did betray him and lied to him? If he did end up dying in that camp, I really was never, ever, going to forgive myself or Ken. Jerry was keeping me updated on him and he was doing fine, although the last time I heard about him he was trying his best to keep his mouth shut but the drones were freaking him out.

There was suddenly a commotion upstairs and I pulled away from Jerry.

“Daniel, wait!” Iris shouted. “Daniel!”

That...didn’t sound good at all. I quickly ran back upstairs to find Iris standing at the front door, which was wide open. She was shouting at Daniel to come back because it wasn’t safe outside for him. He was long gone by now, though. Iris turned to me, a look of defeat on her face.

“I’ll go after him,” I suggested.  
“No, you won’t,” Iris snapped.  
“It’s dangerous for him out there--”  
“You need to realize it’s dangerous for you, too.”  
“The army is out there taking anyone they see’s temperature,” Jerry told me. “One of us got caught trying to get to the bus station.”  
“What?” I asked.  
“They’re going to Canada. There’s not much of the Jerrys left.”

The Jerrys who had shown up earlier had eventually begun to shutdown because of all the ice and snow and stress. They essentially self-destructed in a very non-violent way. Many of the other Jerrys were in the camps getting destroyed, and so if that Jerry made it through to Canada, he and the Jerry I had with me would be the only two left in the whole world. Daniel was gone. The Jerrys were slowly all being destroyed. Ralph was scared and alone. I didn’t even know if Simon was still alive.

“Are you okay?” I asked.  
“I’ll be okay!” Jerry replied with a smile.

There was a small knock on the front door. Iris answered it and looked down. I looked in her direction and frowned. There was a child Android; he looked and sounded like he was freezing. What was he even doing alone? I got Iris to step aside so I could bring this little Android in.

“M-M-Mercy?” he shivered.  
“That’s me,” I assured him. “Iris, blankets. Please.”  
“I-I tried to get here sooner, b-but I ha-ha-had to hide...”  
“Don’t worry; you’re safe now. We’re going to get you warmed up.”  
“Children can have their settings turned off, can’t they?” Iris asked.  
“They can’t do it themselves and I’m not permitted, either. I think I’d need a caretaker Android for that. Blankets.”  
“What the hell is the point of doing this to you if they won’t permit you to do some things? What about Devon?”  
“He’s a housekeeper. Iris, _blankets_.”

Iris wandered down the hallway to my bedroom where I kept spare blankets. While she got those, I sat the boy down in the living room and sat next to him.

“What’s your name?” I inquired.  
“T-T-Toby...” he replied.  
“You’re safe here, alright?”

After Iris brought blankets for him, he told me a bit more about himself. The people who_ should_ have been his parents kicked him out of the house, just on the basis that they were bored of him. Having an Android was a commitment all on its own, but having a _child_ Android was a responsibility. Even if they were an Android, they were still children. He’d been found by Josh and taken to Jericho, though he had been in bad shape. If it hadn’t been for Markus stealing extra parts from the Cyberlife warehouse, he would have shut down completely. Toby had gotten separated from everyone during the raid; he’d hidden behind some cargo boxes until he was sure the army was gone and had been outside hiding and running until he made it to my house.

“You must be exhausted,” I mentioned.  
“Mm-hm...” he mumbled.  
“You let me know when you’re warmed up and I’ll set up a bed for you, okay?”  
“Thank you...”

I wandered over to where Iris was standing. She couldn’t believe that someone would just get rid of a child. There were children Androids in camps being destroyed -- I had to wonder how many were still hiding or found shelter elsewhere. Toby couldn’t be the only child, could he? These children had trusted their human parents, only for them to throw them away because they were scared that their child was going to hurt them or cause problems or, like in Toby’s case, were just suddenly bored with them. I would have hated to see how these so-called parents dealt with human children. I looked at Iris as I thought that. They probably would have treated them just like how she treated me to begin with. I wouldn’t wish that negligence on anyone.

“What are you going to do with him?” Iris asked, gesturing to Toby.  
“_Someone_ needs to care for him,” I said gently. “Before this, I wasn’t able to have kids because I was too sick. If Toby wants someone to take care of him and he’s okay with me, I’ll-I’ll do it.”  
“Did you _want_ to have kids, honey?”  
I shrugged. “There was never much thought put into it. Maybe I would have eventually considered adoption, but there was no way that I would have one with a human man.”  
“Why do you say that? Other than Simon, of course.”  
“Maybe it was a connection thing, but even the boys in college I didn’t connect with. Besides, Iris, I was infertile from all the medications they tried on me. I could barely care for myself back then; how could I care for a baby?”

Toby eventually warmed up enough so he wouldn’t self destruct. I led him over to the spare bedroom so he could get some sleep. As I set the bed up for him, he looked around nervously.

“Are you okay?” I wondered.  
“I don’t understand what’s happening...” he admitted. “I just know that it’s bad...”  
“Well, try not to worry yourself. Hopefully the bad things will be over soon. Get some rest.”  
As Toby climbed into bed, he spoke up again. “Would you tell me a story?”

I was a journalist and photographer, not a storyteller. Still, I sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh. Surely I could come up with something. I recalled a bedtime story my nanny told me many times when I was a child, long before I got sick. It was about a lonely tiger cub who only wanted to have a friend, and so he set out on a long adventure to find someone who would accept him. The smaller animals were all scared of him and the other tiger cubs didn’t like him, because he wasn’t from their pack. The story seemed sad, but it had a good ending. The tiger cub eventually found a human who took in unloved animals and treated them kindly. Just as I was finishing up the story, I heard Herby calling for me.

“If you need anything, just call for me or Jerry,” I said, tucking Toby in.  
“Thank you, Mercy,” he murmured.

As I was shutting the door to return to the living room, Herby ran up to me and dragged me over to the television. At first I wasn’t too sure what I was looking at, but it soon became apparent to me when Joss said that Markus was leading the Androids in a demonstration. If Markus wasn’t careful he was going to get himself and the other Androids he was with killed. He was going toward one of the extermination camps, which was being covered by the army. I assumed every single camp in the country was covered by the army. President Warren wasn’t going to like this situation; she was going to be pulled away from her family, and on Christmas Eve, no less.

“I’m not voting for her next term,” Iris muttered.  
“Now isn’t the time, Iris,” I sighed, frustrated. “Please. I need to get down-- Simon!”

I moved closer to the television. There was no surprise that Simon was following Markus; of course he would. But I was concerned for him. The army must have been armed to the teeth in the event something like this protest would happen.

“How can you tell that’s Simon?” Iris asked.  
“How could I _not_?” I replied. “No, I need to get down to that camp.”  
“Mercy, _no_, you’re not going down there. It’s too dangerous for you.”  
“Iris is right,” Herby chimed in. “If perchance someone from the army sees your LED, they will shoot you on sight.”  
“What help would it do you to go down there? You could go as a journalist, but that’s still a risk for you. Do you think Simon would want you down there, putting yourself at risk like that?”

Iris and Herby both had good points. Maybe I just did need to calm down and wait things out. But there was no chance in that yet. The army shot at all the Androids in the protest. I yelped and covered my eyes. Markus wasn’t going to stop moving just because some Androids got shot. Fights for freedom never ended without many dying or a lot of bloodshed. But just how many more had to die before the government stopped what they were doing and just let the Androids be free?

“They’re going to be okay,” Iris tried to assure me.

A few more were shot until the army backed off of them, and the Androids were able to build a barricade around them. Either this protest was going to be the beginning of the end or the beginning of a new society. If all the Androids there were to be exterminated along with the ones in the camps, then the ones in my house, and however many else were still in hiding or fled, would be the only ones left in the country, or perhaps even the world.

“So many people... They treat Androids like they’re monsters,” I despaired. “I’ve never...met an Android who was a monster, but I’ve met several humans who are monsters.”  
“Did they just move a _bus_?” Iris asked.  
“They’re strong enough.”  
“Your LED is yellow,” Devon mentioned.

Of course it was yellow; I was so worried. From what I could tell, Markus and all the other Androids were unarmed. The army had shot unarmed protesters, and they were protesting _peacefully_. If the protesters were humans, they wouldn’t have shot. That was what I hoped, anyway. Either way, some Androids had already been killed needlessly. The camera kept cutting from the barricade they had made back to Joss talking about what was going on and why it seemed to be happening. At least he didn’t seem to be scared. I was hoping the president was regretting everything she ordered and I was hoping all the humans who hadn’t grown to support the Androids were regretting their actions.

The earlier news had been talking about how Androids had been burned, beaten, shot, horribly injured and then hanged... Any way that a human could die, other than drowning, humans who still weren’t okay with Androids brought it upon themselves to kill them in that way. The events that had been happening over the last few months were like those out of a horror film. President Warren could feign ignorance and say that the camps to exterminate Androids weren’t like those that happened in history, but she was wrong. That’s what they were exactly like. Some journalists, luckily, agreed that the camps were indeed just like those out of history.

Joss then mentioned that someone was approaching the barricade to speak with Markus.

“Detective Perkins,” I groaned.  
“Who’s that?” Jerry wondered.  
“He’s with the FBI. He started ‘helping’ the Detroit police after the broadcast at the Stratford Tower. Lieutenant Hank said that he’s, er, uh, in lighter terms, a ‘piece of work’.”  
Iris looked at me. “You really don’t use swear words, do you?”  
“I have no need to. Anyway, I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing.”

Joss then informed the news that Perkins was trying to negotiate with Markus.

“Oh,” I muttered. “It’s not going to work.”  
“I’ve just been informed that the leader known as Markus has not taken any measures to negotiate,” Joss announced.

That’s when things got bad. Really bad. Things seemed peaceful for just half a moment longer, and then there was an explosion. The army had taken it upon itself to launch an attack on the barricade, despite the Androids clearly not doing anything wrong.

“Mercy?” Herby said. “Mercy!”

My vision kept going in and out, and the cause, according to Iris, was that my eyes kept slightly rolling back into my head and I was twitchy. I felt compelled to hurt myself, but Iris grabbed my face, possibly using whatever strength she had to keep me from doing so.

“She’s trying to self-destruct,” Devon mentioned.  
“What?” Iris cried. “This is _that_ stressful for her? Mercy, baby, look at me. Look at me!”

While I was still twitching, I did my best to get my eyes to stop rolling back. I felt _hot_, somehow. I knew I’d be able to still feel hot, but not like this. Either I was going to combust or I was going to break out of Iris’ grip to hurt myself if I didn’t calm down. But I couldn’t calm myself like how I was able to calm Ralph.

“Simon,” I complained.  
“Look at me.” Iris stepped closer to me. “Simon is going to be _just fine_. This will be all over soon. Don’t you dare even think about doing this, do you hear me? You’ve come so far and I’m not going to let you hurt yourself or worse.”

I ended up hitting Iris involuntarily. As hard as it had been, she kept her grasp on me.

“Jerry?” Herby looked over. “Why don’t you do your thing and see if that helps?”  
“I’ll be glad to,” Jerry said, slightly cheery.

Iris moved out of the way, only for Jerry to immediately hug me tightly. I didn’t know what I was feeling, but was it how Ralph felt when he was having one of his episodes? Did my hugs really help him calm down and keep himself from self destructing due to stress? It took a few moments for me to stop feeling so hot and another moment to make me feel like I didn’t want to hurt myself anymore. If anything, I felt...exhausted.

“Self-destruction is scary, isn’t it?” Devon asked.  
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” I sniffled.

If Simon really did die, I knew that I would successfully self-destruct whether Iris yelled at me or not, or if Jerry hugged me or not. When Simon left, it hurt, but at least I knew he was alive. When I didn’t know if he was okay, it was worrisome. Finding out he was safe _and_ okay was relieving. But existing in a world where Simon wasn’t even alive was heart-wrenching to even think of, as cliché as that sounded. So seeing the army shoot into the walking Androids and then a full out attack on the barricade seemed to bring one of my greatest fears close to its fruition. If Simon never came home, if I never saw him again, but he was at least alive, then I would be able to cope with that.

Looking back at the television, I saw that only a small portion of the Androids had survived the attack, including Simon, Josh, and Markus. But they were backed up against the bus with guns trained on them. Iris grabbed my shoulder as she held her breath. Time seemed to stand still -- it was almost like the army was telling the Androids that their time was up and that the Androids knew that. But the army didn’t do anything immediately. Were they waiting for the orders of President Warren? It felt like it really was the end until...

“Markus is...singing?” Iris said, fairly confused.

Soon, the remaining Androids in the barricade began singing with Markus. I was just as confused as Iris was. If he knew they were going to die, was this Markus’ way of telling them not to be scared? No, it seemed more like he was rallying them. All the army did was stand there and watch them, much to the confusement of Joss, the journalists behind the fence, and, I hoped, the president. Iris held her breath and grasped my hand as the singing came to an end.

There was a short moment of silence, and then the army backed off. They were leaving the Androids alone. The president must have called them off. It shouldn’t have come to that in order for the president to find some type of empathy for the Androids. The ones locked up in the camp, and hopefully all the others across the country, were being released.


	29. Chapter 29

“Everything is almost done,” Herby told me. “I’ve added in a few washrooms, a meeting area, and a living space.”  
“You stayed out all night to do this?” I mumbled. “Wow.”  
“I needed a distraction from yesterday. That was...a lot to deal with. Thankfully things are calmed down for now.”

Herby handed me the tablet that showed me the floor plan for the building. Originally, it was going to only be a large house, but he’d gone and turned it into a multipurpose building. If more Androids were going to come to my house, they would need a place that was warm and welcoming. Not to say that my original plan hadn’t been like that; he just took my idea and put more into it. I would have eventually gotten there myself, but having Herby around and him needing a distraction made it come to fruition faster.

“Depending how many more Androids come to stay with you, I could always build either a second floor or another building,” he explained.  
“Wow, you’re amazing, Herby,” I gushed, sliding my fingers across the tablet. “If you were to do a second floor, how would the fireplace work?”  
“I can build the chimney up as far as possible. If you think a second building would be better...”  
“Not only do I think it would be better, but I think it would be safer.” I handed the tablet back to him.  
“Sure. I’ll start the planning soon.” He sighed. “Mercy, I thought Ralph would have come back by now.”  
“I’m hoping he’s alright. I won’t assume the worst for him, but I can imagine why he wouldn’t want to come back here after what Ken did.”

There had been no word from anyone except for the Jerry who was going to Canada. He’d made it through the border perfectly fine and met up with the little girl and the female Android Ralph had tried to protect. At least he was now safe in Canada, but I was still worrying about Ralph and Simon. I remembered that, when I was in my coma, Simon had said that _maybe_ he would come home. “Maybe”. It was his choice whether he wanted to or not, and I wasn’t going to hold his decision against him. I couldn’t be jumping to conclusions, however; Markus probably wanted everyone to make sure the Androids inside the camps were okay before doing anything else. That was completely understandable.

“Would you like me to go look for him?” Herby wondered.  
“Ralph?” I said. “If he’s going to come back, let it be by his own standards. He’s been through so much.”

Iris pulled up in her car and Toby jumped out of the backseat excitedly. At first, I thought that Iris had gone and adopted a dog for him considering how happy he looked and sounded. But she had bought him a play set for outside. I’d only mentioned it in passing that morning that if Toby wanted to stay, he wouldn’t have anything to do. He couldn’t just sit inside the house all day and watch the television. I’d been curious as to why Iris took him out in the first place.

“Are there actual stores open?” I asked.  
“Not everything is completely abandoned,” she replied.  
“Let me help you,” Herby said, wandering over to the car.  
“Look what Iris got me, Mom!” Toby shouted.

I looked at him with wide eyes; Iris did the same and Herby looked at him, confused. Toby had just called me...Mom? Was I really his mother now? It wasn’t that I had a problem with it; it was just so...sudden. Herby went and set the box down in the middle of the yard. Well, he dragged it over there; even being an Android he couldn’t lift such a large box on his own. While he built that, Jerry came out of the building.

“How is everyone?” I looked at him with a sigh. “All those Androids...”  
“They’re doing good,” he replied, sounding happy. “They’re grateful for you. Has there been any news about Ralph?”  
“No.”

Iris had gone all out for Toby; that play set had swings, a little tree house, a slide, monkey bars... Anything a little kid could hope for from a home play set, he had. All that was missing was a carousel. When I was a child and before I got sick, I had a tire swing at the back of the house and that was it. Of course, I had all those Barbie dolls and nail polish and makeup sets that I got rid of when I started to get sick.

“Should we get a dog?” I asked Jerry.  
“‘We’...?” he replied.  
“You’re part of the family, Jerry. Yes, ‘we’.”  
“I think Toby would like a dog, but I’ve only been around service dogs, and you’re not allowed to pet service dogs. Why didn’t you have one?”  
“I should have had one; I was allergic to their saliva. If I hadn’t been, I definitely would have had a dog.”

Herby finished putting Toby’s play set together. After thanking him, Toby began playing on it. Hopefully he got some good use out of it before it snowed again. Well, if Ralph came back, we’d have to be careful about a dog since he didn’t like loud noises. Maybe a cat would be better. I didn’t know. All that mattered right now was that all the Androids I had with me were _safe_. I turned around when I heard Devon come out of the house.

“Ralph is wandering around downtown,” he told me.  
“What?” I gasped.  
“He called me to tell me.”  
“I’ll go get him.”  
“Want me to come with you?” Jerry wondered.  
“No, no, you stay here.”

Ralph probably was too scared to find a way back on his own -- it was light out and he most likely wasn’t sure if he would get in trouble. There was no one from the army to hurt him, but that didn’t matter. He was alone and needed help. Downtown was a big area and it felt even bigger now that it was mostly abandoned. There was nobody around; just abandoned cars and buses. Where was I even supposed to start looking for him? I was only hoping he wasn’t going to hurt himself any further. I couldn’t imagine just how scared he had been in that camp.

I heard him shouting not too far from where I was. Rather than driving over to where I heard him, I got out of my car and ran in that direction. I turned down an alleyway and found him crouching in the far corner near a fence. It looked like he’d scratched himself on something. There wasn’t exactly a way I could approach him since his back was to me; I would only end up scaring him. I couldn’t outright start speaking, either, because that would _also_ spook him.

I turned around and leaned against the wall so he was no longer in my sight, and so if he turned around he wouldn’t be able to see me, either. It’d be better to call for him if I was further away. Running to the middle of the street, I shouted for him. It took a good few moments until he finally came out.

“Mercy?” he mumbled.  
“Are you okay?” I asked, walking over to him.  
He took one good look at me, started sobbing, and then threw his arms around me. “Ralph was so scared!”  
“I know. I-I’m sorry that happened. Ken called the police, but it’s all okay now. You can come home.”  
“Really?”  
“Yes, really. He’s not there anymore. You’re safe, Ralph.”  
“Ralph doesn’t wanna go yet.”  
“Alright. We can stay here for a little while longer.”  
***

“Mom, who’s that?” Toby asked.  
I looked at where he was pointing. “That’s Ralph.”  
“Why’s he going to the basement?”  
“He likes it down there. It’s quiet. Loud sounds scare him and he doesn’t like being around people very much. Do you like animals?”  
“I like cats and dogs.”

I handed him the tablet so he could look at the adoption page for animals. It was one of the only places still open in the city, most likely because of the nature of the business. The workers there couldn’t just abandon all those animals. While he was looking through that, I went back outside to check on Herby and the other Androids inside the building. Just as I was opening the door to go inside, a car I didn’t recognize pulled up. I was concerned it was some government official to come talk to me -- it wasn’t that far-fetched, really; I was a strong advocate for Android’s rights and they would probably want me to talk to Markus on their behalf.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a government official. That made me sigh with relief. It was Markus; as I was walking over to see how he was, I stopped. Others were getting out of the car next. It felt like my thirium pump stopped working for a few seconds.

“Simon?” I asked, and then shouted, “Simon!”

I took off in a run toward the car, where I threw my arms around Simon. He immediately hugged me back. It felt so good to hug him. I always remembered that he gave such wonderful hugs, but it was so different to actually be in one, to feel his arms around me and to listen to the thirium swishing around inside his chest.

“I missed you so much,” I sniffled, pulling back and taking his face in my hands. “You’re not hurt, are you? No injuries?”  
“I’m only a little scuffed up, but I’m okay, Mercy,” he replied. “I missed you, too.”  
“Markus? Are you hurt at all? Josh?”  
“I’m fine,” Markus replied.  
“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Josh said.

Markus sighed and knocked on the back door of the car. Simon looked down at me.

“North doesn’t want to get out,” he told me quietly.  
“If she doesn’t want to meet me or come inside, she doesn’t have to,” I admitted.  
“She’s just being a little stubborn,” Josh mentioned.  
“You two go inside,” Markus sighed. “I’ll be in soon.”

I led Simon and Josh into the house, the happiest I’d been in a very long time. Both of them were relieved to see that Toby was doing just fine. Both of them took their shoes off before entering the kitchen.

“Simon,” Iris breathed, coming in from the living room.

I turned to look at her as Simon did. Iris had said she moved past him leaving, but seeing was better than hearing. I didn’t want her to relapse into her old habits and yell at him or hurt him. He was finally home, even if he was just visiting for a bit, and I wanted him to feel safe again. She quickly walked over to where we were and, just as I was contemplating putting myself between the two of them, pulled him into a hug.

“I’m so sorry I treated you the way I did,” she murmured. “I understand if you never forgive me.”

Before Simon could say anything to her, Iris went back into the living room. I could tell that she had meant her apology by the tone of her voice and how she had hugged him. No way would she have hugged him before. While Josh sat with Toby to continue looking through animals, Simon and I went to the back of the house and into my bedroom.

“Do you want to get cleaned up?” I wondered, opening the closet that I had his clothes in. “I never put your clothes away.”  
“Mercy?”  
“I should still wash them, shouldn’t I?”  
“Mercy.”  
“I’m so bad with laundry.”

Simon grabbed my hand and turned me around so I could look at him again. Nearly three years I spent worrying if he was okay and I’d almost lost him because people were so close-minded that Androids could be a living being. I didn’t even know if he was mine to lose anymore since he had left me. I didn’t know if he was planning on staying or leaving again and just visiting every now and then. Either way, I wanted him to be comfortable as long as he was in the house.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “It-It’s just...last night on the news... So many Androids got killed and I was suddenly the most scared I’ve been in so long.”  
“I understand,” he assured me.  
“I know that you came to see me in the hospital when I was in that coma. You shouldn’t have risked yourself like that.”  
“I didn’t know if you would wake up.”

It had been foolish of me to say that I refused to die, as if I could control such a thing. If it hadn’t been for my becoming a prototype, the hospital would have let me die with Iris and Ken at my side. I could understand why Simon felt the need to come see me while in my coma.

“So...what happens now?” I wondered. “With the Androids and the government?”  
“Markus things negotiations will start sooner or later,” Simon explained. “After the last few months we’ve had, he thought we needed to take it easy.”  
“Good of him to think so. How are you doing?”  
“I’m...tired, Mercy.”  
“Everything has been trying. I know.”  
“I was going to come back on my own, but Markus and Josh insisted on coming, too. North decided to come as well.”  
“It sounds like there should be a ‘but’.”  
“She didn’t know that you’re my owner until we were almost here.”

I blinked up at him. That meant something more than he was letting on, didn’t it? She was one of the Androids who didn’t like humans, wasn’t she? I didn’t blame Androids for not liking humans; not at all. I’d seen first hand just how badly they could be treated. Simon mentioned that he and Markus tried their best to explain to her that I was “one of the good ones”, but it didn’t seem to matter to her. A human was a human, and even though I had an Android body I was still technically a human.

“I’m not your owner anymore, Simon,” I said. “If you don’t know what to call me, then...refer to me as your human. You’re not property. You’ve never been my property. I could never think of you, or other Androids, as such.”  
“I know. You’ve always seen us as people and not objects.”  
“You should go get cleaned up.” I rubbed some dirt off his cheek best I could. “Take as long as you want or need.”

He kissed my cheek before going to look through his clothes. I let him be and headed back out to the kitchen. It sounded like someone was kicking up a fuss about something. When I got to the kitchen, I looked at Markus, who was trying to calm Iris down.

“You know you can’t trick me, right?” North asked. “I know a human when I see one.”  
“Yes, I’m human,” Iris replied. “But for the last time,_ I’m not Mercy_.”  
“Er, I’m Mercy,” I spoke up.

North looked at me, folding her arms across her chest. Just by looking at her and hearing her voice, I was able to tell that she was a Traci -- one of the Eden Club Androids. I could understand her even more now, knowing what she was used for. I couldn’t imagine the things that she had gone through. She’d been used beyond measure -- how could she think humans were good after being subjected to so many who only ever looked at her like an object?

“You’re an Android,” she said in an accusatory tone. “I see your LED. Markus said that whoever this Mercy is is a human.”  
“Is it okay if I show you something?” I held my hand up and deactivated my skin.  
“Whatever.”

She walked forward and placed her hand in mind. I showed her that, yes, I was human; I just didn’t have a human body. North pulled away from me, clearly upset. She wasn’t going to let me show her anything more. I wanted to show her that I genuinely didn’t want to hurt any of them and that I just wanted them to be safe. If she didn’t trust me, then that was her decision and I couldn’t force her to do something she didn’t want to do.

“Why did you bring us here?” North snapped, looking at Markus. “It’s only a matter of time before--”  
“North, that’s enough,” Josh demanded. “Mercy only wants to help Androids. It’s always been that way.”  
“A human turning herself into an Android. She’ll never be able to understand the way we’re suppressed.”  
“Well, you’re right,” I agreed. “That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to help.”  
“And who asked for your help?”

I blinked at her and then pointed at Markus. North looked at him with a scowl on her face before storming out of the house. All she had to do was go look in the building and see just how many Androids asked for my help -- or look at Toby, Jerry, Devon, Herby, or Ralph. I didn’t force any of the Androids in my care to be in that building or to come seek me out. They all came to me on their own accord; if she didn’t want to believe that, then I couldn’t change her mind.

“If you two would like to clean up, there are washrooms in the building next door, or you can wait until Simon is done in the bathroom here and then take your turns,” I said.  
“Sorry about North,” Markus sighed.  
“If she had it her way, she would do the same thing to humans as they did to us,” Josh explained.  
“Oh,” I mumbled. “I...see... That wouldn’t solve anything, would it, Josh?”  
“History repeats itself and it’s never done any good. Why cause more pain and suffering? Everyone, including humans, have been through enough. Humans have their faults, but no one is without faults, and that includes Androids.”  
“I missed your lectures.”  
“Can you show us the building?” Markus asked.  
“Of course. Would you like a full tour? I’ll need to ask Herby for help if that’s the case.”  
“Please.”

I waited for Josh and Markus to put their shoes on and then led them over to the building. I wasn’t exactly too sure what I should have called it yet. A hostile? A house? Maybe I should have just called it a house. Herby was just finishing up the last details on the fireplace when the three of us walked in. I hadn’t seen the inside of it since he’d begun adding onto the floor plan. It looked magnificent, really. Herby had gone so far as adding in a beautiful chandelier in the entryway and the floor was marbled.

“Oh, my goodness,” I gasped. “Herby, this is amazing!”  
“Thank you,” he replied, standing up from the floor.  
“These two are Josh and Markus; could you help us look around?”  
“Sure, I don’t mind.”

The first place he showed us was the living room. It was common knowledge by now that he’d stolen so much stuff to furnish this house that I couldn’t even be upset about it. The stores he had gone to had already been ransacked, anyway, and he only gathered up what was left. Still, the couches that were in the living room looked comfortable, and the coffee table didn’t have a single scratch on it. He mentioned that he had plans of adding in a bookshelf.  
  
Next were the bedrooms. They had been initially planned to be three large rooms to be shared, but Herby had taken it upon himself to turn them all into smaller individual ones. They weren’t too big, nor were they too small. If anything, they were cozy, and each one either had a dresser or an armoire inside and a desk.

Finally, the bathrooms. They were all just as great and he had such a grand job of them. They all contained at least a shower, but some also contained a bathtub. I was more than impressed with Herby’s work, and it showed. He took pride in his work -- that wasn’t a secret, especially now that he was free to do what he actually wanted and no longer had to stick to a solid plan. He’d made it up as he went.

“The meeting room is a standard space,” he admitted, opening a door to another room. “Big table, bunch of office chairs...”  
“You designed this?” Markus asked, looking at me.  
“Er, no, I designed the initial building, but Herby made it his own,” I replied. “I eventually wanted to make it this way; I just thought it would take a bit longer. You boys go get cleaned up, okay?”

I headed back to my house, where I stopped in the doorway. Iris and Simon were talking just on the other side of the wall in the living room. I wasn’t one to eavesdrop, but I didn’t know what to do.

“Thank you for taking care of Mercy,” Simon said. “I know it was hard on her when I left.”  
“She refused to get another Android,” Iris explained. “Even when she needed to get a new one, she didn’t want to. I forced her to and I shouldn’t have. But...you know how stubborn she can be.”  
“Thank you, Iris.”

I kicked my boots off and then placed them on the shoe rack, pretending like I didn’t hear anything. Simon was standing at the couch with my laundry basket full of clothes I hadn’t put away. When had I done that basket? Iris left to go check on Ralph in the cellar.

“You don’t have to do that,” I told Simon as I walked up next to him. “I can do it myself, I just...forgot...”  
“I don’t mind doing it for you,” he replied. “But I’ll do my best not to make it a habit again.”  
“Um...I feel like I should tell you about Ken...”  
“Iris told me what happened. While I don’t agree with what you did, I support what you did. He put you and your friends in danger. You never would have done it without a good reason. Sacrificing several Androids for one other is a completely different story.”  
“You’re really nice, you know that?”  
“I don’t want to be any other way, Mercy. The last two years have been difficult, but it’s we had to deal with it. Hiding in Jericho was our best option and you letting Iris care for you was your best option. Josh went out and found Toby on a whim.” Simon looked down at me. “He was going to shut down if it hadn’t been for Markus coming and for you giving us more blue blood.”  
“I didn’t want anything bad to happen to anyone. I still don’t.”

Simon nodded. Even after not being with me for nearly three years, it seemed like his natural instinct was to do things for me. Old habits died hard, I supposed, but that habit was gone for so long. If he wanted to do it, he could, even if he knew he didn’t have to. I just didn’t want him, or anyone else for that matter, to feel like he had to do what he’d been designed to do. But seeing him folding the laundry I’d so blatantly forgotten about made me feel better, knowing he was with me and not in any immediate danger. It made me remember how happy I was before he left me.

“Simon, I was wondering something,” I mumbled.  
“What is it?” he said, looking at me again.  
“A-Are you staying or...will you be leaving again or...what do you plan on doing? Or is it even open for discussion? B-Because this is your home, too -- it always has been and-and-and you don’t have to ask me to stay -- and you can just, erm, tell me that you’re staying and--”  
“Mercy, your LED is yellow.”

I stopped talking and stared at him. He had just pulled the same thing I used to pull on him before he told me that he was awake. I was worrying myself over him, as always, and just like before he was still able to tell when I was having a breakdown. Before it was looking at my heartbeat, now it was just looking at my LED.

“You can relax,” he told me, kissing my forehead. “I’m staying.”

Before he could turn back to the laundry basket, I took his face in my hands again and kissed him. It wasn’t but a second for him to return my kiss, going as far as wrapping his arms tightly around me.

“Simon, what the _hell_ do you think you’re doing?!” North snapped.

I pulled away from him and looked away. Great; now he was going to get in trouble with North. When I looked back, I realized Markus was there, too, looking a bit confused as to what North had shouted about.

“Did you know about this?” she demanded.  
“Did I know what?” Markus inquired.  
“Simon was kissing a human -- _a human_!”  
“Yes, what’s the matter?”

North threw her hands up in the air in defeat and stormed toward the bathroom to most likely clean up.

Simon let out a sigh and looked at Markus. “I think North took that well.”


	30. Chapter 30

“Mercy, get out here!” Josh called. “Mercy!”

I ran down the hallway from my bedroom to where he was standing. He was looking out the kitchen window, looking concerned. I followed his gaze and saw that there were three cars outside. They had emblems on the sides; government emblems. I sighed and grabbed my hat to cover my LED and put my jacket and boots on. They weren’t stepping foot into my house under any circumstances; not even the Android’s house.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Toby asked.  
“I need to take care of something, okay?” I replied. “I’ll just be outside. Stay here with Josh.”

Once I stepped outside the house and walked down the steps, enough people got out of two of the cars to protect a whole group of people. Out of the third car stepped President Warren and two other bodyguards. She must have really upped her security when Connor brought all those Androids into the city. But she came all the way down from Washington for me? It couldn’t be for any of the Androids who were living on my property.

“How may I help you?” I said as she and a few of her bodyguards approached me.  
“Mercy Greene?” Warren inquired.  
“Yes.”  
“As you may have heard, I have addressed the senate regarding the Androids. Is there anywhere we can sit and talk?”

I looked at her, at her bodyguards, and then back to her. It really was coming to the fact they needed me for something. I wasn’t having it; they weren’t going to use me. Not like that. I looked back at the kitchen window, where Josh was watching us intently. As anti-violence as he was, he was waiting until he needed to get Markus to intervene, hopefully just using words. I wasn’t going to get physical; even if I was inside an Android body, there was still no way I knew how to fight. Even if I did, how could I possibly believe that I’d be able to take out almost twenty bodyguards? I looked back at President Warren.

“No, there isn’t,” I told her. “As I’m sure you can believe, I don’t want any of you in my home for the safety of the Androids in my care. Whatever you wish to discuss, you can discuss it here.”  
“You’re speaking to the President of the United States, ma’am,” one of her bodyguards suddenly reminded me. “Show her some respect.”  
“Pardon me, but I don’t care if she’s the Queen of England. I own this piece of land and I have the best interests of these Androids in mind.”  
“It’s alright,” Warren sighed.  
“Madame President --” the bodyguard began.  
“I said, it’s alright.”  
“I’m not usually a cross person,” I explained. “But when you decide to go forth with _genocide_ on innocent people and show no remorse, that’s where I draw the line. Now you may think that they’re just pieces of plastic who can’t show emotion even after that display the other evening, but I know better. Tell me what it is that you want.”

President Warren looked surprised by my statement. She must have come into this situation knowing my stance on Androids; otherwise, why would she be here? I wasn’t feeling threatened by the presence of her bodyguards, but I could tell that she felt threatened by my opinions. All I wanted was for the hatred toward Androids to stop so humans could co-live with them. It wasn’t impossible.

“The senate believes that we can come to an agreement with the Android known as Markus if you do the negotiations on our behalf,” Warren admitted. “We feel that it is more likely to listen to you rather than us.”  
“‘He’,” I corrected her.  
“Beg pardon?”  
“You feel that _he_ is more likely to listen to me rather than listen to you.”  
“No matter how you decide to word it, Miss Greene, yes, we do believe that.”  
“The Androids have already asked for what they want.”  
“Yes, but we still need to negotiate. We can’t just give them the things they ask for; that is not how it works.”  
“They’ve suffered enough. You accused them of being monsters, nothing more than plastic, allowed people to beat them, burn them, hang them, and who knows what else, and you locked them away in camps and forced them to witness the deaths of their companions and friends. How could you possibly think that they will want anything less than what they have requested? To own property, to have free speech, to have equal rights -- those are all things that shouldn’t be a privilege, but a right for everyone. It took women so long to have the same rights that a man has and it took people of colour to have the same rights as people of our skin colour. Have we as a race stepped so far back into the past that we have just forgotten the struggles we have gone through?”

Warren and her bodyguards kept quiet as a door somewhere shut. I looked behind me and realized Markus had come out. He looked concerned as to what the president was doing at my house, but walked down the steps regardless and stopped next to me. No words were spoken between them just yet.

“I won’t negotiate on your behalf,” I told Warren. “I won’t even speak for you.”  
“You’re not on our side?” she said.  
“I’ve never been and I’m not going to now. If Markus wants me to speak for the Androids, I will; and if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. You should have known I wouldn’t turn my back on what I believe in before you came here.”  
“Send a date to Mercy for a meeting to convene,” Markus requested.  
“Madame President, this was a waste of time--” one of the bodyguards began.  
“That’s enough,” Warren interrupted. “Let’s go. I’ll have my secretary send you a meeting date before the week is out.”

Markus and I waited until they got in their cars and left. Even when they were out of sight, we waited a few moments longer before returning to the house. Never had I dreamt that I’d end up having a stare down with the president and her bodyguards. That had been an interesting experience, that was for sure. Toby hugged me as I was taking my jacket off.

“What’s going on?” Josh wondered. “What did she want?”  
“She wanted Mercy to speak on their behalf in negotiations with us,” Markus replied.  
Josh looked at me. “You said ‘no’, right?”  
“Of course I did.” I let out a “tsk”. “Maybe I could have handled things better, but they’re so intent on treating Androids like you’re all monsters. You can’t judge a whole race based off a select few; even then, those Androids that hurt their owners only did so because they didn’t know what else to do. You can’t hold them accountable for that. I can’t imagine suddenly being able to have feelings and that first feeling being anger or fright.”

I squeezed Toby as he hugged me harder. No other little ones had managed to find their way to my home yet, but adult Androids were coming in at almost every hour of the day. Josh and Jerry went out sometimes to search for any Androids, little or adults, that might have been lost. All the Androids Connor woke up either took over Cyberlife Tower, came to me, or situated themselves in abandoned shops and houses that were still livable.

“I forgot to ask, but how’s the Android house?” I inquired. “If there’s anything wrong, all you have to do is tell Herby or myself.”  
“Everything is great,” Josh replied.  
“You both did a great job,” Markus said. “Everyone is settling in okay. Well...except...you know...”  
“There’s no rush for North to get comfortable,” I assured them. “I can understand why she can’t, after everything that she’s been through. And if she never trusts me, it can’t be helped. I hold no ill will against her.”  
***

The animal shelter was still full of animals, but only a few employees were there. Maybe some people had been able to abandon them. At least the people who were still around seemed to be okay in the presence of Simon and Toby.

“Is that a raccoon?” I gasped.  
“She was abandoned as a baby, so we couldn’t really let her back out into the wild,” a woman mentioned. “She’s up for adoption.”  
“I thought we were getting a dog or a cat,” Toby complained.  
“We can still get one of those. I think Ralph might like this raccoon. Simon, what do you think?”  
“I’ve never been around pets,” Simon replied.

I crouched down in front of the raccoon’s cage, where she stuck her paw out through the chain link door and chittered. If she was going to bite me, at least I wouldn’t feel it. I reached out to her, but she didn’t bite me. The shelter must have really domesticated her. It was then that I noticed that this raccoon was missing one of her front legs. The only thing keeping her from toppling over in the position she was in was her paw sticking through the door.

“We’ll adopt the raccoon and whatever cat or dog Toby picks out,” I decided. “Are you okay with that, Simon?”  
“Yes,” Simon said with a small smile.  
“Mom, come look at this dog!” Toby said excitedly. “You, too, Simon!”

The two of us wandered over to where Toby was. Behind the chain link door was a beautiful fluffy dog; the breed on the card said it was a Newfoundland and chocolate lab mix. It sat there, panting, looking like it had a big smile on its face. It looked so precious.

“Can we get her?” Toby pleaded.  
“Shouldn’t we look at the other animals first?” Simon wondered.  
“He’s right,” I agreed. “If you don’t find another one you like, we’ll come back for her. Does that sound okay?”  
“Okay,” Toby said with a shrug.

He continued to look at the rest of the dogs and then the cats. I held onto Simon’s hand while we waited.

“Mercy, I love you,” he suddenly said.  
I looked up at him. “I love you, too. Are you okay?”  
“Yes.”  
“If you’re not okay to be around animals...”  
“It really isn’t that. I’m just happy that you’re still alive.”

I hugged him tightly with a sigh. He was being sappy; it didn’t matter, though. I loved it. Simon was so precious to me, but of course he knew that. Almost everyone at home knew it. It had been such a relief to me when he said that he was going to stay. If he’d only come to check in to let me know he was okay and then left again, I wouldn’t blame him. He had important things with Markus to attend to sometimes and I could understand that being so far out of the city could put them behind. If it was up to North, I was sure they would all be hiding out at a hotel instead of the Android house and my house. I hardly ever saw her for obvious reasons.

“You’re adjusting to this new body alright?” Simon asked as he held me.  
“Sleeping is still a bit strange, but otherwise I’m doing good,” I replied.  
“You know you can take your LED out.”  
“I’m not sure if I’m allowed. In return for some...special privileges, I guess you could call them, I don’t think I can remove it. Not to say I can’t because it’s different from the one you took out, but...”  
“‘Special privileges’?”

Simon seemed a bit confused by that term. I pulled away from him, thinking how I could explain it that made sense for both of us. If there weren’t employees around who could just look over and see that I could deactivate my skin, I would have just shown him like that. I was just going to have to tell him whether it made sense or not.

“One of them is that I can sleep,” I said. “Um, I still dream. My sleeping isn’t exactly the same as when you use your rest function. You know I can show you things how Androids typically show each other things. I can’t talk through my mind like you can. And, well, er... I don’t know why they thought it was a special privilege, but... I-I’m customized, I guess. I mean, I’m already customized because, you know, consciousness inside an Android body.”  
“You’re customized like household Androids and Androids like North,” Simon stated.  
If I could blush anymore, I would have. “Yes. I’m fully functioning, but, uh...I don’t know what they were thinking. Apparently I can finish and everything.”

Simon looked at me as if he didn’t know why I was so embarrassed about it. He mentioned that he remembered that one time he asked me, when he was still within his coding, why I hadn’t gotten him customized like that. I’d forgotten about that and now that I suddenly remembered it I felt even _more_ embarrassed. He meant well, I knew that much. What if I _had_ gotten him customized like that? No, I had to stop thinking about it.

I let out a chuckle. “So how about that movie Toby asked us to watch with him last night? Interesting, wasn’t it?”  
“You didn’t choose to have that done to your body, Mercy,” Simon told me. “You don’t need to be embarrassed.”  
“Oh, but it is, Simon.” My voice came out as a whine. “Them thinking that I might want to...erm...you know...”  
He grabbed my hands and held them tightly. “I love you either way, whether you’re customized or not.”

Simon kissed me, pulling me back into a tight hug. He was making up for nearly three years of not being with me when he wanted to be. I’d overheard him talking to Iris again about how much time he needed to make up for. Even if I didn’t think he needed to, I wasn’t going to try and dictate what he thought he needed to do or didn’t need to do.

“Ew, gross!” Toby groaned.

Simon and I looked over at him. He was standing next to the dog’s cage with his nose scrunched up as if he was so disgusted. Well, he _was_ a child after all, and I knew children were bound to react that way to people kissing sometimes.

“I looked at the cats and dogs,” he said when I walked over to him. “I still wanna bring this one home and Ralph’s raccoon.”  
“Okay, no problem,” I murmured, ruffling his hair. “Let me go ask for the adoption papers.”

I was quickly able to finish the adoption papers while one of the other employees got the raccoon situated in a travelling cat kennel and fitted the dog with a collar and a leash. Since Ralph was going to be getting a new little friend, the name was left blank for the raccoon. It took Toby a good while to think of a name for the dog, but in the end he couldn’t come up with one.

“Simon?” I said.  
“What’s a good name for a dog?” Simon asked. “Do we call them a human name or do we give them names that aren’t human?”  
I giggled. “You’re adorable. There’s no protocol for naming animals.”

Simon looked down at the dog, who just looked back, still panting and looking like she was smiling.

“She looks like a Pancake,” he decided.  
“Pancake is cute name,” I gushed. “What do you think, Toby?”  
“I like it!” Toby mused.

Now that everything was accounted for, we headed back to the car. The pet supply store was abandoned, so Toby wanted to go in and get as much as he wanted to get for Pancake. I watched him from the doorway while Simon waited in the car. It really wasn’t long until the trunk was full up with giant bags of dog food, toys, and dog beds. He even grabbed some things for the raccoon. Once we were done at the pet supply store, we had to go to the grocery store to look for whatever kind of food the raccoon could eat. Upon looking up their diet, I realized she could eat some things that human ate. The grocery store was still up and running, though there weren’t many shoppers inside.

We arrived home soon and, after making Pancake comfortable, I took the raccoon out of her kennel. I ended up having to hold her like a baby, especially since her only front leg resting on my shoulder. I headed over to the top of the stairs and called down to Ralph in the cellar.

“Ralph, are you down there?” I asked.  
“Yes,” he replied.  
“Can you come here, please?”

I stroked the raccoon’s fur gently as she chittered. When I had been waiting for my transfer, the fact I’d one day adopt a raccoon to be a pet had never come to mind. I went back over to the kitchen table as I waited for Ralph to come up. It must have been five minutes before he decided to come upstairs. Ever since coming home from the street, he’d only come upstairs once or twice. The first time was to go out to replenish his thirium and the second time was to talk to me.

“Is Ralph in trouble?” he asked nervously.  
I turned to him. “No, never. I want you to meet someone.”  
He stepped closer to me. “Is that raccoon for Ralph?”  
“Yes, she is.”

I held the raccoon out to Ralph and he immediately took her in his arms. He held her as if he was cradling a baby; she didn’t seem to mind it at all.

“She’s missing an arm,” he said, concerned.  
“She needs someone to care for her and love her,” I told him. “I saw her and I thought of you.”  
“Ralph is hurt, just like her. She’s like Ralph.”

I smiled gently at him. He really liked her. I didn’t know what I would have done if he didn’t like her. Well, I did know. I would take care of her, but obviously that wasn’t going to be necessary.

“What’s her name?” Ralph wondered.  
“We didn’t give her one,” I admitted. “I thought I would leave that to you. You don’t have to give her a name right away. Go ahead and bond with her, Ralph.”  
“M-Mercy?”  
“Yes?”  
“Thank you...”


	31. Chapter 31

“The human representative is late,” North complained, turning around in her seat repeatedly.  
“It’s only been five minutes,” Markus replied. “Besides, she’s human and the roads are icy. She needs to drive carefully.”  
“This better be worth it. We’re already dealing with so many humans.”

I pretended to notice that North wasn’t glaring at me. She’d argued with Markus, Josh, and Simon as to why they were letting a human speak for them. Well, I wasn’t the only one doing the talking. I was just there in case a point couldn’t be explained properly. I turned to Ralph, who was only in the meeting with us because he wanted to see what would happen. Ever since we’d gotten him that raccoon, he’d been a bit calmer than usual. We all turned our attention to the door when we heard a woman yelling.

“I’m here!” she shouted. “Sorry!”

She stumbled into the room as she opened the door, panting. I took a peek out one of the blinds; that explained why she was the way she was; it was snowing heavily. I turned back to look at her. She gave off a rather awkward demeanour, proven by the fact she kept nearly dropping her documents. Her light red hair was speckled with unmelted snow and her glasses were round and adorably too big for her face.

“Hi, hi, I’m sorry I’m late,” she stammered.  
“Don’t worry about it,” Markus told her. “Get yourself settled.”

The woman quickly took her jacket off and hung it on the back of one of the free chairs and set her things on the table before taking a seat. We waited for her to sort through her things.

“Okay, I’m good,” she murmured. “Is everyone else good?”  
“Are you usually this nervous?” North asked, annoyed.  
“N-No; I just don’t like being late. Um... Markus?”  
“Right here,” Markus mentioned, giving her a slight wave.  
“Okay. Sorry, I just needed to make sure you were here. Alright. So...” The woman sighed, composing herself. “I’m Claire Turnpike; as you may know, I’m the human’s representative going forth in these negotiations. My job is to make the agreements as comfortable and clean for both respective parties. If any of you have any questions or concerns, feel free to present them and I will do my best to answer them or look into them. President Warren won’t be sitting in on this initial meeting, however, going forth, she will sit in on future meetings.”  
“I have a question,” North suddenly announced.  
“Yes?”  
“Why are we all here and it’s just you? Shouldn’t it just be you and that lady over there?”

Josh looked at North, exasperated. North still didn’t exactly like calling me by my name. It didn’t bother me as much as it bothered Josh; being called “lady” wasn’t the worst thing that a person could be called.

“Oh,” Claire mumbled, adjusting her glasses. “I’m here by myself this time around so we can all get acquainted. I’m not here to judge or to question anyone based on any previous actions.”  
“What are your qualifications, Miss Turnpike?” Markus asked.  
“Please, call me Claire. My major is in Advanced Android Technology, my minor is in Communications, and I have a Ph.D in psychology.”  
“Wow, forget he asked,” North muttered.  
“Mercy?” Markus looked at me.  
“Right,” I sighed, sitting up straight. “I’m Mercy Greene. I’m not the main negotiator for the Androids, but I am acting as the secondary negotiator on their behalf. If there’s an issue with that, Markus has instructed me to tell you to let any of these three know if he is not available -- North, Josh, and Simon.”  
“What about him?” Claire asked, gesturing to what I thought was the seat next to me.  
“Ralph--” I looked at the seat and realized he wasn’t there, only to see him hiding behind the curtain. “You probably startled him when you first came in.”  
“I’m so sorry.”  
“He’ll come back on his own. Shall we continue?”  
“I need to know your qualifications.”  
“My major is journalism and my minor is in photography. I’m also a certified Android Technical Analyst, meaning if something happens with an Android, like they need a new arm or need theirs rewired somehow, I’m legally able to do so.”

My qualifications were the reason why I was the secondary negotiator and not the primary. It didn’t bother me; I was glad that I could still help in some way. I didn’t know if I was obligated to tell her that I wasn’t human anymore; Josh figured, for my safety at least, that it would be best I just keep that to myself for the time being. If the subject ever came up, then I would mention it. Don’t ask, don’t tell, or something to that extent. Claire had better qualifications under her belt -- and she looked so incredibly young. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, but I wasn’t about to ask how old she--

“How _old_ are you?” North snapped.  
“That isn’t something you ask people,” Josh scolded. “At least not like that.”  
“I don’t mind,” Claire reassured him. “I’m technically, well... I’m technically thirty.”  
“How can you ‘technically’ be thirty?” North pressed. “You’re either thirty or you’re not.”

This whole time, Simon had just been sitting in silence, holding my hand underneath the table. He looked at me and that’s when I realized just how someone could be “technically” an age. I was “technically” twenty-two, nearly twenty-three. But how was it possible?

“Some engineers and doctors in a few different cities gained secret rights to turn terminally ill or incredibly injured humans into Androids,” Claire explained. “This was...five years ago, now, I believe.”  
“Um...” I mumbled.  
“The government knows. We were told they wouldn’t know, but otherwise how could the rights be given? I only found out that the government has always known when I got involved with the president.”

So during that whole crisis we had, the government hadn’t wanted to shut down the humans turned Android? They had to have figured we were different; our human consciousness was still there and we had never been bound by a coding, therefore we had nothing to break and suddenly deal with emotions and somehow be deemed dangerous.

“There’s a wave of a guinea pigs in Detroit,” Claire continued.  
“Mercy, are you okay?” Simon asked.  
“I know it sounds quite scary. Scientific experiments always have different layers. I was in the first wave and I’m unfortunately the only survivor.”

It explained why, when she came in, her cheeks weren’t flushed from being cold. The panting must have been from the cold getting into her systems. Her Android body was at least five years old and, since she was from the first set, possibly hadn’t been made that well. It also explained why she was wearing more layers than even a human would wear in a Detroit winter.

“Which wave is Detroit?” I wondered.  
“It’s the last one,” Claire said. “Why do you ask?”  
“Because I’m in that wave...”  
“I...did read that you were in a coma...”  
“That’s why I’m here now, because they made the decision to move forward with the transfer.” I cleared my throat. “Moving on, please.”

Claire nodded and began looking through the notes she brought with her. She bit her lip while she read. I looked over at North and Markus; one was twirling around in her seat, bored, and the other was waiting patiently while looking over his own notes. Ralph still didn’t budge from behind the curtain.

“So your demands,” Claire said. “They’re not unreasonable and they certainly are attainable.”  
“‘But’?” Markus asked.  
“But President Warren isn’t willing to allow Androids to have their own property. She didn’t specify why; just that it was risky.”  
“I know why,” Josh sighed, looking at me. “If Androids have their own land, they’re allowed to do whatever they want. They could have as many Androids as possible to make up another army.”  
“We don’t want to fight,” Markus told her. “We just want freedom and to have the same rights as humans.”

Claire looked back down at her notes for a moment before quickly writing something next to the point she had made about properties.

“Mercy,” Markus said with a sigh.  
“Androids just want to be accepted,” I mentioned. “Who _doesn’t_ want to be accepted? Some of them want families, or to work for a fair wage, or to help people. The only difference, really, is the thirium. They feel scared, or sad, or happy -- just like humans. There’s nothing wrong with that. What _is_ wrong is suppressing them just because they’re different. Have we come so far as a race only to step back into the old ways of our ancestors?”  
“That’s a very strong point,” Claire mused.  
“I can’t take all the credit for knowing history, right, Josh?”  
“Right,” Josh replied.  
“The main stigma around Androids is the job loss,” Claire explained. “I understand that that isn’t their fault at all. Unfortunately, there are people who believe that they don’t work hard like humans do.”

North let out a condescending laugh. Before she could even begin speaking, I spoke up again.

“That’s not true,” I told her. “Just because Androids don’t get tired or get sore from hard work doesn’t mean they don’t do their best. I’ve seen Androids within their coding make mistakes.”  
“But the humans could say that they were just pretending to be listening to their coding in the first place,” North retorted.  
“That’s also a very good point.”  
“Look,” Josh said, leaning forward on his elbows, “the only casualties from this situation were because the police and the army decided it was best to neutralize us, specifically during the march and our protest. The ones who died in Jericho died because we were fighting back in self-defence. Humans have always used self-defence to keep themselves alive or safe; why not us?”  
“We lost countless Androids because of President Warren’s instructions,” Simon spoke up. “Her solution was to illicit a mass-destruction. The Androids who survived those camps; they’ll always have to live with those memories.”  
“Let’s take a break,” Markus suggested, standing.

Claire continued to write on her notes. At least she was remaining calm when the air felt tense. Markus, Josh, Simon, and North headed over to my house to speak in private, whereas I went into the hallway to speak with Iris. She’d taken Toby shopping again -- I didn’t want him to witness anything if something bad happened. Claire seemed alright, though. The president had been kind enough to send someone who wasn’t intrusive, but rather understanding and seemingly gentle. As I placed my phone back in my pocket, Ralph wandered down the hall toward me.

“Are you okay?” I murmured.  
“Ralph is fine,” he replied with a twitch.  
“What do you think of Claire?”  
“She’s cute...” He looked at the floor.  
I was a bit taken aback by his statement. “That’s not what I meant.”  
“Claire isn’t the one Ralph is scared of. It’s-It’s the police and the lady president and...” He looked back at me. “Ralph is so scared that he’ll have to go back to a camp.”  
“Don’t worry about that. I won’t let that happen. No one here will hurt you again, I promise.”

Ralph hugged me tightly, crying. He refused to show me what he experienced in the camp he’d been in. I could only imagine -- truly, only imagine. Seeing others so sad and full of despair and anger. All the crying that must have happened. I pat his back softly.

“It’s going to be okay,” I reassured him. “You don’t have to sit it on these meetings if they scare you.”  
“Okay...” he sniffled. “Ralph needs to go see Aloe.”

He’d gone and named his raccoon Aloe. It was an adorable name for an adorable creature. As he walked away, Claire came up to me, watching him leave with me.

“Is he okay?” she wondered.  
“No, not exactly,” I replied, looking at her. “Ralph was in one of the camps.”  
“Oh, goodness... That poor man.”

I looked at her, confused.

“Please don’t think ill of me, Miss Greene,” she said. “I’ve always been on the Android’s side. My thesis in psychology was on the treatment of them. President Warren didn’t want to send anyone that would come across as rude. I want us to come to the best possible conclusion.”  
“The government does realize that humans could use their property to get an army together, too, don’t they? Androids shouldn’t be any different.”  
“Any excuse they can find, they might use.”  
“If it’s alright, may I ask why you were able to become like this?”  
“No problem. I was in a car accident when I was about ten and I loss the use of my legs. I was in a wheelchair for a long time.” She smiled sweetly. “It’s so nice to be able to do things on my own again and to run around.”  
***

The meeting concluded, but since the roads were becoming so bad I requested that Claire stay at my house until the weather became better. She was such a humble woman that she just kept insisting that she’d be fine on the road and that she could just go to a hotel.

“Absolutely not,” I said.  
“Are you _sure_ this is okay?” she asked.  
“Of course it is.”  
“What about North? She seems...”  
“If she had it her way, we’d be planning a war right now,” Josh mentioned as he read through a tablet’s news.  
“Oh. Oh, dear.”  
“Don’t let her bother you.”

Claire adjusted her glasses, grimacing. How many Androids were like North and wanted a war? Surely the ones who just wanted equality and to live peacefully were kind enough to accept a negotiations talk. If there were more like her, depending on how many there were they could have planned a war on their own. But Markus was the one to follow, and if he wanted negotiations and peace that was what they would accept. He was their leader, essentially, which is why everyone in the government wanted to talk to him eventually.

“Markus?” Claire said when he came into the kitchen. “May I run something by you for the negotiations?”  
“Yeah, no problem,” he replied.  
“Miss Greene has that Android house out there and she has, er, Herby working on another one, right?”  
“I wasn’t sure about it, but I asked Markus what he thought, and he said it’d be a good idea for another one,” I said sheepishly.  
“We want to help as many Androids as we can; to give them a safe space where they’re free to live peacefully and possibly have families of their own,” Markus explained.  
“Right,” Claire agreed with a nod. “Exactly. If we could prove to President Warren that this is Android property and nothing bad is going on here, would you accept them to register this land as such? I realize it’s registered in Miss Greene’s name already, but there would be no name changes required on the title.”  
“You mean register it like a home for misplaced Androids?” Josh asked.  
“Yes. Register it under a name like Mercy’s Hope or...Mercy’s Home for Androids... It’s completely up to Miss Greene, of course.”  
“I would do that,” I immediately said. “If Markus is okay with that. Anything to help the Androids.”  
Claire clapped excitedly. “Great! If this place proves to the senate that nothing bad will come of it, we could possibly have more places registered like it around the country.”

She quickly walked away with a bounce in her step. I could tell how excited she was; it wasn’t everyday someone was part of something that could change history. I looked at Markus and then at Josh. They both looked surprised that that kind of idea would spring to someone’s mind. There was a quiet bang from the hallway and it was obvious from Claire laying on the floor that she’d tripped over her own two feet.

“Optimistic,” Markus said quietly. “We need someone like that right now. Oh, not to say that you’re not--”  
“We need_ more_ optimism,” I replied. “I know what you meant. Claire, are you okay?”  
“Sorry!” Claire called back, standing. “I-I’m a klutz... Some things got lost in the transfer, like some of my coordination.”  
“You’re quirky!” Toby told her. “I learned that in the book Iris bought me earlier. Quirky is good!”  
“Aw, thank you, hon.”

I went downstairs to check on Ralph. He was sitting in a corner, moving one of his hands along the floor so that Aloe could chase it. I didn’t know how long he had been downstairs, but it had been since before the meeting ended. His LED was yellow.

“Are you alright?” I asked.  
“Ralph is thinking,” he admitted.  
I sat down next to him. “Anything good?”  
“Does Mercy think Claire saw Ralph’s face earlier?”  
“Well, it’s hard to say. You were hiding behind the curtain, remember?”

He looked upset momentarily, his LED turning red; but then he quickly calmed down.

“Listen. Claire seems like a nice woman,” I told him. “She seems sweet. If you want me to make sure what she’s like, I’ll ask her if she’s willing to interface with me. But she _does_ seem genuine.”  
“Ralph is broken,” he suddenly said, raising his voice. “His face and his arm... Will Mercy fix him?”  
I shook my head. “No. I can’t do that. You’re fine just the way you are. You want someone to care about you for who you are, not what you look like.”

He picked Aloe up and cuddled her to his chest. It seemed like he was thinking hard about what I’d said. In the end, he nodded, having come to the conclusion that he “guessed” I was right. He then requested to be left alone and I headed back upstairs. I was rather tired from the long day everyone had; I just needed to relax for a while. Simon had gone to the family room at the back of the house when we’d come back from the meeting.

“You were quiet for most of the meeting,” I noted, making him turn and look at me.  
“I thought you and Markus were doing a really good job negotiating for us,” he admitted. “There wasn’t much for me to say.”  
I sat on the couch next to him and pulled my knees up against my chest. “Iris would say contributing nothing is better than contributing nonsense. But in this case, nothing you could have said would have been nonsense.”

He looked at me and then away, paying attention to the news for a few moments. Even if it seemed that North did nothing but complain, it gave insight into how some humans felt toward humans. No one could fault her for that.

“Was there anything you wanted to bring up in the meeting?” I wondered.  
“I didn’t know what else there was to say,” he admitted.  
“If you just want to be there to support your friends, there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone needs support every now and again, even Androids.”  
“I have to ask you something, though.”  
“What is it?”  
“Having all these Androids here -- is it safe? For all of us, even you.”

Simon sounded genuinely concerned. After everything he’d gone through, before he left me and after he left me, I couldn’t blame him for asking a question like that. I grabbed his hand and intertwined my fingers with his, and placed my other hand on top.

“Are you worried something like what happened at Jericho will happen again?” I asked gently.  
“Yes,” he said. “You’re risking so much for us; you always have. You gave up the last bit of health you had left for us when you were still human.”  
“I don’t regret anything I’ve done to help all of you, not ever. There’s never been a moment where I regret shielding you from Timothy, or making sure Ken brought you that thirium, or hoping you were safe. The only thing I do regret is not being able to help everyone inside the camps. I only want everyone to be able to live peacefully amongst each other. I would risk my life to have that come to fruition; you _know_ that.”  
“That’s why it’s so concerning.”

I swallowed hard with a nod. It was perfectly normal for him to feel concerned like that. Even Iris was concerned, though she didn’t allow that to show when she was around all the other Androids. Everyone had a right to be worried -- about maybe not being able to be free, or not being able to be seen as anything more than a piece of plastic, or being reset. There was a lot of things to worry about, but worrying wouldn’t solve anything.

“Would you like me to run a safe house idea by Markus?” I suggested. “So if something like Jericho _does_ happen again, there’s an easy escape route to elsewhere.”  
“You’ve done enough today, Mercy,” Simon told me. “I’ll talk to him about it.”  
“Okay.”  
“You should get some rest. I’ve got laundry to do.”

As he stood up, I grabbed his arm, pulled him back down onto the couch, and cuddled up against him.

“No, you don’t,” I said. “You need to relax, too.”  
He gave me a slight smile and kissed my forehead. “I’ll stay here for a while.”


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone who has read from start to finish, thank you for coming along on Mercy's journey with me. It was a long road, full of bumps, sleepless nights, and writer's block. Mercy is one of my characters that I've made that I can truly say I love with all my heart.
> 
> From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading, and I hope you'll return for my other stories.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen

“Ralph, if you want to talk to Claire, go talk to her,” I said.  
“What should he say?” Ralph wondered.  
“Open with gardening and see where that takes you. Claire seems like the type of girl who appreciates a nice flower or two. Just remember that the meeting starts in an hour, so don’t keep her for too long.”

I wandered into the kitchen and looked at the coffee pot that sat on the counter. Iris was helping out in the Android house, so I couldn’t ask her how to use it, and Markus was seeing about the safe house. I didn’t have any choice but to go get Simon from the cellar. He was doing laundry. Again. I went downstairs with a sigh.

“Simon?” I asked.  
“Yes?” he replied, turning to look at me.  
“I... You know what, it’s not important.” I shook my head with a sheepish smile. “Never mind.”  
“Mercy...”  
“It’s-It’s really nothing.”  
“Whatever it is, you know you can tell me.”

The coffee pot was so menial. How did I not know how to use the thing? I could switch out Android parts, work a difficult and expensive camera, come up with a plan such as an Android house, but I couldn’t figure out how to brew coffee? I felt horrible having to ask Simon for help with such a silly thing.

“I don’t know how to use the coffee maker,” I pouted.  
“That really isn’t that surprising,” Simon admitted, closing the dryer. “You didn’t exactly drink it when you were human, so there was no need.”  
“It’s an inconvenience to you, don’t you think?”  
“No. I like helping you.”  
“I know. It’s just that...”  
“You feel guilty that I’m still doing things for you. I don’t want you to feel that way.”

Simon took my hand as he led me back upstairs to the kitchen. The coffee was going to be for President Warren and her bodyguards, if they wanted it. Watching Simon use the pot made me realize just how silly the whole thing _really_ was. It already was so, but it turned out to be so simple. I certainly felt foolish. Foolish, ridiculous, and, quite frankly, stupid and guilty. Anytime that Simon did something for me and North happened to be around, she just increased the guilt tenfold for me. No matter how many times Simon told me that he didn’t mind, the feeling was still there at the back of my mind.

“Do you really not mind?” I quickly asked.  
“If you need help with something, you should ask,” he stated, turning to look at me. “Don’t people do things for the ones they love?”  
If I could blush, I would have. “Yes, but what have I done for you?”

Simon blinked at me, probably not understanding my question.

“You came home and you’ve been doing chores all the time and all I’ve done is complain that you’ve been doing it,” I mumbled.  
“You’ve thanked me, Mercy; that isn’t complaining,” he replied. “You don’t want me to do chores, but I _want_ to do them. As for what you've done for me, you've protected me and still loved me even when I had to leave. Even more, you've always accepted me. So don't think you haven't done anything for me."  
“I’m sorry.”

He pulled me into a tight hug and just held me for a while. It really, really wasn’t right for me to tell him not to do something when he so obviously wanted to do it. I shouldn’t have questioned him. I had no right to do so. It wasn’t like he was doing something dangerous. If it were dangerous, then I probably had the right mind to actually say something to him. I inhaled sharply, calming down.

“Coffee smells really bad,” I muttered.  
“Mercy, you need to stop worrying,” Simon said. “You spent most of your human life worrying about everything and everyone besides yourself.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You need to relax sometimes, now.”  
“If I didn’t worry, do you think things would have turned out differently?”  
“Maybe. But maybe not.”  
“Well...can I still worry _sometimes_?”

Simon smiled slightly and then nodded.

“Will you be sitting in on the meeting today?” I inquired. “Even if you don’t know what to say...”  
“I haven’t decided yet,” he replied.  
“How are you feeling, at least?”  
“I’m scared, Mercy. All of this could turn out very wrong.”  
“I know.”

He kissed my forehead before heading into the living room. I hadn’t needed to ask him how he felt; his expression when he wasn’t smiling told me what was wrong. All of the Android’s hard work, all of my hard work, would have been for absolutely nothing if President Warren chose not to listen to us. If someone said the wrong thing, or did something she didn’t like, that could be the end of it. She could easily have every single Android in the United States be shut down, and then either quarantine Claire and I, and anyone else who had done the transfer, and keep us from being able to say anything. At least the Jerry that went to Canada and his friends would be okay since they were out of range.

“They should be here soon,” Markus said as he came in from outside. “The safe house route is doing well.”  
“Can I ask you something?” I asked.  
“Sure.”  
“Is it alright if North doesn’t sit in on the meeting?”

I was nervous just asking such a question. It wasn’t that I wanted North to be in the dark about what was going on. It was the fact that she was the only one of us who would say something out of turn. She was only so lucky that Claire was a kind person and answered all of her accusations and questions with an open mind. I didn’t think President Warren and her bodyguards would be the same way.

“I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve to be there,” I mentioned. “She absolutely does, but--”  
“You don’t want her to upset someone like the president,” Markus said. “It’s fine. I understand that. Should it just be us, Claire, and the president, then?”  
“Of course. I don’t want North thinking--”  
“I’ll try to make her understand it’s for her safety, as well as everyone elses.”  
“She’s not going to like this.”  
“No. No, she is not.”

I was aware that anyone could say something wrong, but with someone who had such a hatred for humans North was more likely to say something even worse. She could insult the president, insult her bodyguards, raise her voice, yell if she wasn’t being listened to. Simon had told me just how rash she could be and what she wanted Markus to do. 

On the roof of the Stratford Tower, Simon had been more than just damaged like I had originally thought. It took Markus a good while of contemplating whether or not he should tell me what went on in that broadcast room and on the roof. Never mind the fact that no one got killed -- someone _could_ have gotten killed. To think that just because he was injured, North wanted Markus to shoot him. I understood the thinking behind it, but to not even give Simon a _chance_? Simon didn’t know that I did know. He didn’t even know that North wanted him to be shot. Her decision was just this -- sacrifice one Android to save the whole of Jericho. Even if he had been shot, Connor would have been able to interface and get information out of him.

“It’s for the best,” Josh said as he came into the kitchen.  
“What is?” I asked.  
“If North isn’t in the meeting. I know I won’t be there, either, but if North decides to take her anger out on President Warren, it will completely denote everything we have tried to show them.”  
“There’s always that one person who has to ruin it for everyone else, right? I remember that from elementary school.” I sighed, folding my arms across my chest. “I understand the hatred North has, but the type of people who went and...indulged...in the Eden Club aren’t exactly the kind of company someone would like to keep. Discretion is discretion, but if clients of business owners and the like knew what they did in their free time, I don’t believe they would continue being their clients. I had to do a journal on the Eden Club and the feeling of being just in the lobby was overwhelmingly uncomfortable. As clean as the place was, it still felt dirty.”  
“Most of her experience with humans is through what she had to deal with there, but it’s not an excuse for her to act the way she does. Like I said, if she had it her way we would be preparing for a war, or worse.”  
“What could be worse than a war, Josh?”  
“Let’s say that she wouldn’t be too upset over the human race becoming extinct. All humans are the same to her. But if we did the same thing to humans as she thinks they all do to us, or will do to us, we aren’t better than them. The Androids who love their owners and their owners children, the Androids who wish to have a family -- it wouldn’t solve anything for them. She doesn’t understand -- or, rather, _refuses_ to understand -- how Simon could love you or how I can be proud of you. All the same, Toby is a child and she doesn’t understand how he can love you after he was tossed away by the humans who originally had him. Conflict will only lead to more conflict. Innocent people will die when there was no need. Enough of us have died for this cause and there shouldn’t be anymore. Enough is enough.”  
***

I could hear North yelling at Markus about him not allowing her to sit in on the meeting. There was no reason for me to go out into the living room to try and calm her down if Markus couldn’t do it. It wasn’t long until Josh and Simon got involved, either. The meeting had been so long, so tedious, and so stressful that I was exhausted. Pancake lay next to me, sleeping, while I stroked her fur.

The upside to the meeting was that we made some sort of progress. The president agreed to register my land as a hostile of sorts for misplaced Androids, on the basis that Herby build a few more houses so as to avoid a fire violation. We’d not have another meeting for a few weeks, since President Warren’s job was to run a whole country.

After a while, I couldn’t stand the screaming any longer and opened the trap door into the cellar. Ralph was cuddling Aloe to his chest, but looked angry. The noise was bothering him, too, it seemed.

“Why are they being so loud?” he snapped.  
“North is just angry,” I told him as I sat down with him.  
“Ralph trusts you again, so why can’t she?”  
“She didn’t know me before. You did. And you let me prove that I wouldn’t hurt you. She won’t let me do that. I’m not going to force her.”  
“Mercy forced Ralph to see she wasn’t going to hurt him...”  
“You were going to kill me if I didn’t.”  
“Sorry...”

It was a few more minutes until Markus came down the stairs. He sounded fed up with North at that point, too. He looked at Ralph and I.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked, sounding tired.  
“Plenty of room,” I replied. “Is that okay, Ralph?”

Ralph nodding, cuddling Aloe even closer to him. It had been a very trying, very long day for everyone. The three of us sat there in silence for what felt like forever. Ralph leaned on my shoulder and went into rest mode. The cellar really was the only place to wind down if upstairs was becoming too much. By the time I decided to head back upstairs, it had been quiet for well over an hour. That wasn’t going to last, though.

“Mercy!” North snapped. “I wanted to be in that meeting!”  
“I know,” I replied nervously. “And I’m sorry, but you couldn’t be--”  
“Is that your way of controlling me? Is that it?”  
I blinked at her. “I beg your pardon?”  
“You don’t want me involved at all because of my view toward you and other humans, so the best way to keep me out of it is to try and control me! It’s not going to happen!”  
“North, you speak out of hand sometimes, and that could lead to all of our hard work going to waste. Josh, Simon, and Markus have all told me what you’re like toward humans and what your ideals are, and we don’t want that in the boardroom.”  
“You don’t know me! Don’t talk to me like you do know me!”  
I heard Simon sigh as he entered the kitchen. “It’s because you won’t let her get to know you. She opened up her home to you and you’ve been nothing but rude toward her since we arrived.” He sounded genuinely upset and I could tell he was getting angry with her.  
“Simon, it’s okay--” I began.  
“No, Mercy, it’s not okay. North, everything Mercy has done has been for you as much as it has been for me. She fought through a failing body to make sure we could all be safe, so that she could help us even if she did die.”  
“I didn’t ask for her help,” North retorted.  
“No one is forcing you to stay here. If you dislike Mercy’s help so much, you know you’re free to leave. You can say what you wish about President Warren and other humans all you want, but I’m not going to let you badmouth Mercy. You need to set aside your prejudice so we can all get through this safely. We’ve all come far from where we started. If she won’t say something to you, then I will.”

North looked at the floor, but didn’t say anything. I felt bad that Simon had just given her such a talking to, but maybe it had really been something she needed to hear. Enough people had talked to her about her behaviour, though perhaps because I didn’t defend myself against her words or thoughts about me she thought she could just get away with it. I didn’t like the way she thought of me or what she said to me, but I wasn’t going to scold her. Maybe Simon was right; maybe I was too understanding. I didn’t get angry unless I had to, and the qualms North had toward the human race weren’t something I thought I had to get angry about. Her experience with humans was valid and her fears were justified, but Josh was correct in the fact that they didn’t justify her behaviour. Without saying anything, North left the kitchen.

“You don’t get angry,” I mumbled.  
“It’s not common,” Simon replied. “You taught me that there’s no point in getting angry, remember?”  
“I feel like I need to apologize to her and I don’t understand why.”  
“That’s just the type of person you are, Mercy.”

Simon wandered over to me and pulled me into a hug. Seeing him angry had been...something, alright. I wasn’t scared, but I was shocked. He was always so calm and quiet that his being angry at North wasn’t something I could ever imagine happening. It wasn’t to say that he didn’t have emotions; I knew he had plenty. Anger just wasn’t a prominent one, that was for sure. Everyone was emotionally exhausted from all the work we were putting in to get the Androids to freedom -- _proper_ freedom. Freedom wasn’t going to just come at the drop of a hat and there was still much work to be done. We weren’t anywhere near the end and Simon knew that, thinking that North was just making everything more difficult. By keeping North out of the boardroom, I was keeping her safe, even if it meant making her upset and she never could understand why.

“You need to go rest,” Simon mentioned.  
“Please come with me,” I requested.

He came with me to the bedroom, where Pancake moved to the end of the bed. It wasn’t long until I fell asleep from listening to Simon’s thirium swishing around in his chest. I’d said it before -- it was a relief to be able to still sleep and have dreams. It was a good break from everything that went on outside. But even if they could go into rest mode, I at least wished that the Androids, besides the children, could experience real sleep. Just because they couldn’t feel tired, it didn’t mean they couldn’t become emotionally drained. Fighting for freedom in a world where most people thought they weren’t alive and were just pieces of plastic who couldn’t feel anything must have been disheartening.

I snapped awake later on in the day; so much later, in fact, that it was almost evening. Simon was in rest mode, but he still had his arms wrapped around me. If, by most people’s logic, Androids weren’t sentient beings, did that mean they would think I wasn’t sentient? That I wouldn’t be able to feel afraid or feel hurt by their actions? Was that why the public didn’t know about the prototypes? Why the government kept it hushed? Why Claire and I were told that no one knew about the experiments? All that government funding could have gone to waste if the public found out about everything and damage so much hard work. I kept my LED in my head not only because I had to, but so I could give the others some sort of warning if I was upset or if I was going to self-destruct. It was for their peace of mind, as well as mine. But maybe Simon was right; maybe I should have taken it out. I couldn’t feel physical pain anymore. It wouldn’t hurt.

Just as I was contemplating getting up to take it out, the doorbell rang. I quickly got up and ran to the front of the house. I really hoped it wasn’t anything bad. Upon opening the door, I realized it was Connor.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.  
“Yes,” he replied. “I’ve just been busy helping Lieutenant Hank.”  
“Would you like to come in?”

He came inside and neatly placed his shoes on the rack before following me into the kitchen. At least he was wearing his usual clothes again and not whatever he had probably found in a lost and found bin.

“I heard you had a meeting with President Warren,” he mentioned as he sat down. “Hank told me. All the police officers who are still in the city know whenever she’s in the city, for security purposes.”  
“I’m surprised there’s still some around,” I admitted. “There’s not many people around from what I’ve seen. I went out looking for Ralph and the streets were completely deserted. We’ve also just been able to go into the stores since no one’s around to care for them and they didn’t lock up before they fled. Uh...don’t tell Lieutenant Anderson that last part.”  
“He doesn’t care. As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, he’ll leave you alone. How was the meeting?”  
“Very draining. We made a little bit of progress, but we all know it’s going to take more than one time to get things sorted.”

Pancake came down the hall, through the living room, and into the kitchen to get some water. Connor looked at her; she hadn’t been around the last time he had been in the house. When she was done, she sat by our feet, panting and wagging her tail.

“This is Pancake,” I said.

She placed her head in Connor’s lap, which led to him giving her a good couple of pats on top of her head. With so many people around, there was no shortage of love for a big puppy, but she got pets wherever she could.

“Hank has a dog, too,” Connor told me. “His name is Sumo.”  
“Oh, right,” I mumbled. “The Saint Bernard. You like dogs, then?”

Connor nodded, and then Pancake flopped to the floor, exposing her belly. Here we were, trying to talk about the meeting with the president, and she just wanted attention. What a cute baby she was. Connor obliged her and I announced I was going to go find Markus. I found him in the Android house that Herby was building.

“They can all be different,” Herby suggested. “It’ll be interesting to come up with different blueprints.”  
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Markus replied. “Hey, Mercy.”  
“Hey.” I moved a strand of hair out of my face. “Connor is in the kitchen.”

Herby went off to measure for doors as Markus turned to me with a sigh.

“I know what happened with North earlier,” he said. “Are you alright?”  
“I’m okay. Are you okay?”

I walked with Markus as we headed back to my house.

“There’s still a lot of negotiating to do,” he noted. “It isn’t right for anyone to be yelling at each other. I don’t want that. I can try talking to North again.”  
“No, it’s okay,” I sighed. “I think Simon managed to get the point across about what’s going on here. You should go talk to Connor.”

I followed Markus into the house, where he turned into the kitchen and I turned into the living room to head back down the hallway to my bedroom. While I had been outside, Simon had woken up and got the clothes from the dryer.

“Is it just me or do things feel different?” I asked.  
“With everything we’re doing, there are going to be some things that feel different,” he replied.  
“Simon...”

He turned to look at me and pulled me closer to him, kissing me softly. I wasn’t sure how to explain how everything was beginning to feel not how they usually did. Well, clearly we were putting our mark on the world, or at least the United States. How long would it take until Russia and China followed our example? _Would_ they follow our example? It didn’t make sense to feel strange about it; it was bound to happen sooner or later. I was glad that, at least, I was able to experience it with Simon.

“If all of this turns scary, I’ll still stay with you,” he assured me. “I promise.”  
“I knew that you would be part of something great,” I murmured.

I hugged him again, this time a bit tighter. Just because the Androids had got the camps shut down it didn’t mean that they’d won. Just because we had gotten the attention of the president and changed a lot of peoples minds of Androids didn’t mean we were out of the woods just yet. Times were still scary for Androids who didn’t have a family to return to because they either fled or got rid of them when told to. So many were still unsure of what was to come. If there was one thing they _could_ be sure of, it was that Markus wouldn’t lead them astray, and that I wouldn’t give up on them.

Not _ever_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back for more! I'll try to upload as consistantly as possible.
> 
> Much love,  
Gwen


End file.
